Resident Evil IV: Afterlife
by Moviac
Summary: What happens after Resident Evil: Extinction? An alternate take on Resident Evil: Afterlife.
1. It Begins

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

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As she was watching hundreds of her clones awaking, Alice was the most surprised to the fact that she didn't know half of what sort of projects Umbrella was doing. Sure she knew that Dr. Isaacs would've done anything to create the perfect bio-weapon, but to create thousands of clones of her was a bit of a stretch. Which was why she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw her exact duplicate floating in a sphere filled with some sort of watery liquid just an hour ago. She remembered how astounded she was by the sight of it and that she thought she was having a dream or something. A vivid dream that had seemed like a nightmare she still hadn't woken up from.

But now she was standing next to the exact same clone as before. She still thought it was bizarre to have a perfect copy of herself standing next to her, an image she just thought was impossible before, but it was even stranger to see even more of her naked duplicates waking up inside their spheres behind a glass window. It just freaked her out after a few minutes of watching the whole scene unfold, so she decided to walk away, hoping to have some time alone, sorting through the crazy things she'd seen and trying to find some sort of solution to the massive amount of zombies above them. Because if they needed to get out of these labs safely, the zombies on the ground above them needed to be removed, or else they'd all be killed. And that wasn't exactly the plan.

As Alice started to walk away, her clone noticed this. Wondering where her counterpart was going, she turned her head towards her.

"Hey, where are you going?" the clone asked.

Alice turned her head towards her clone. Despite the fact that she was looking at her exact lookalike, Alice was still glad that there was still one difference seperating her from herself. And that was the clone only wearing the brown leather coat she gave to her earlier, nothing else. An easy target for zombies, though.

However, since Alice hadn't seen any zombies since she'd arrived here, she estimated it was worth the risk of leaving her clone behind in this room. What else could there be in here? Infected mice? She checked everything in the room and there was nothing to be afraid of. Besides, they needed a way to get out of there, and getting help from the White Queen was the only way to achieve just that.

"Trying to get some help", Alice said.

With that, Alice continued on her way, while hundreds of zombies were walking around the house on the surface. Some of them were feeding, or actually feasting, on the pile of dead Alice-clones in the ditch. After such a long time of waiting behind a fence to get to a few dozen corpses to dig into, they finally got what they'd longed for: a pile of juicy meat. Bon appetite.

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**Author's note: Here it is, my first chapter. English is not my native language, so there might be some little grammar errors throughout the story. Every following chapter will depict another character, so wait and see what character is up next. Please read and review.**


	2. Cold As Ice

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

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Cut to a white hallway in what appeared to be a medical facility. The hallway looked so clean, it almost looked sterilized. It seemed there was not even a spot of dust in a corner somewhere. Two scientistst were walking through the hallway, among some other medical staff, who all looked to be of Japanese descent. All people in the hallway were wearing white labcoats, and a closer look revealed all labcoats were having an Umbrella-logo on the left chests. The scientists both looked to be high in the medical staff's hierarchy. They were then revealed to be Albert Wesker and a young caucasian man in his late 20s, who had long blond-to-brown hair. Wesker was wearing his sunglasses, as usual. They both crossed a junction, which had a large Umbrella-logo on it.

"So, you're leaving Tokyo?" the young man asked.

"Yes, Dr. Birkin", Wesker answered.

"Is this because of what that woman in the boardroom said?" Birkin continued to ask.

William Birkin had a point here. Why would Wesker leave Tokyo? They both were working on the development of a new virus, which they called the G-virus. One virus that may bring the undead back to life. Why would he leave all that behind?

Two weeks ago, Birkin was just sitting a few chairs from Wesker during a weekly meeting between boardmembers when a hologram of a woman appeared on the table, warning them she would be coming with a few of her friends. After the hologram disappeared, many boardmembers were questioning what was going to happen next. Wesker then identified the woman as a former member of Umbrella. A security guard, tasked to guard The Hive, Umbrella's research lab near Raccoon City, which was destroyed 5 years ago.

The hologram was traced to a deserted facility in the Nevada desert. They all knew that a former scientist, named Dr. Isaacs, was conducting experiments in there, involving clones of an unique experiment, which escaped, also 5 years ago, from the Detroit facility. The same experiment that was now coming to Tokyo to hunt them down. However, the Nevada desert was a long distance away from Tokyo, almost 2½ months of travelling time. Enough time to experiment on a new test subject with a newly developed strain of the G-virus. So there was no need for panick. At the end of the meeting, Wesker said that he would take care of the woman. So why would he want to leave Tokyo now, two weeks after the warning of the woman?

"I just need a change of scenery", Wesker said.

William suspected there might have been another reason why Wesker was going to leave Tokyo.

After the meeting from 2 weeks ago, William Birkin got curious. So he looked on his computer at a list of former Umbrella employees. And there he found her, Alice, now listed as a test subject of Umbrella, and a very powerful one too. He couldn't blame Wesker for leaving, but why would he? Was he truly afraid of the woman, now named as Alice? The security in the facility was at it's maximum, so there was no way Alice could force her way into the building...

But there was no time for questioning the intentions of his boss, as they were now standing at a door.

William opened the door, just so that he could show his inferiority to Wesker. "After you, sir", he said.

Both entered a small room which had a big window in the back. In the room, there was a man in his mid 20's, sitting on an office chair behind a control panel, looking at the 2 men as if he was expecting them. Just like the rest of the Umbrella staff, he too wore a labcoat. He had short brown hair and a bit of facial hair.

"Welcome, gentlemen", the man said to them.

The man turned his chair back towards the control panel, which consisted of a few buttons and a small screen, showing all sorts of data. Above the control panel was a big window, which faced a large white room filled with 2 rows of huge ice cubes, hanging from racks. Frozen inside them were both men and women, who were nude, unconscious and curled up like balls. All of them had some sort of tattoo of a barcode with a number under it branded on their upper arms. Between the 2 rows of icecubes, there was a rail on the ceiling and there seemed to be a mechanical arm on the ceiling at the far end of the room.

Umbrella preserved their test subjects in ice, so that they could transport them from facility to facility. Using their own cargo ships and vehicles back when the world wasn't overrun with zombies yet, it was an easy way to hide their illegal experiments from the outside world.

The room was big enough to occupy two rows of ice cubes as it looked like some sort of storage room. Birkin looked through the window, thinking of how cold it must be in the room, especially for the men and women inside, who were frozen inside the ice cubes. Chills were running up his spine. The small screen on the control panel the man was sitting behind showed what the temperature was of the room, which was now 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

"Mr. Burton, get Project 14 ready", William ordered the man behind the panel.

"Yes, sir", Burton obeyed.

Burton pushed a button and the mechanical arm in the white room took an ice cube from a rack and hung it on the rail in the middle of the room. There was a naked woman frozen in the middle of the ice cube. Her figure was slender and fit, her skin was pale and her hair was as dark brown as possible, almost black. She looked beautiful, although you couldn't see much of her face, as she was resting her head forwards between her knees.

A test subject must always start out naked. It increased the efficiency of the subject itself, in case of a medical treatment, and it saved money, as there was no need for expensive clothes, which were probably too scarce to get in these days anyway. William Birkin always found this awkward, but it was standard protocol, so he just went with it. The barcode-tattoo on her left upper arm, with the number '014' under it, was also part of the protocol, as it served as a way to keep track of Umbrella's experiments. William looked at the woman in the ice cube, sighing. He had lost count of the many test subjects that preceded this one. All ended up as a disaster. Let's just hope this one wouldn't end up like the others.

"So, who's this?" Birkin asked.

Burton looked on the small screen, which had now switched to being filled with data about the woman.

"Jill Valentine, sir", Burton read from the screen. But before he could read further, William interrupted him. He didn't need to hear more details. It was just a test subject after all, a thing that could be used at their disposal. Nothing to be concerned about, so let's get it over with.

"Okay, that's enough", Birkin calmly said, "Just get her ready."

"Yes, sir", Burton replied.

Before they could see what Burton did next, Wesker and Birkin both already walked out of the room and continued to walk down the hallway again.

Wesker looked at Birkin. "Listen, you're my best man in here. I count on you", he said.

This was a surprise. William hardly ever got a compliment out of Wesker, and now he was getting a big one. Birkin started to feel confident, because it was a big responsibility he was given by his boss. For the first time in his life, he was given full controll of the development of a virus he and Wesker had been working on for years. Birkin almost began to smile, but he had to act professional about this. He was in the vicinity of his boss after all.

"Yes, sir", Birkin replied soberly.

"Good", Wesker commented.

Together, they walked further down the hallway.

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**Author's note: What are Wesker and Birkin planning to do to Jill? And what will happen to her? You'll find out in the following chapters. Please read and review.**


	3. Crash And Freeze

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

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An Umbrella-helicopter flew high above the outskirts of Alaska. In it were Claire, K-Mart and the children. Claire was operating it, while K-Mart was sitting behind her with the rest of the kids.

"Do you see anything alive down there?" Claire shouted to K-Mart, as the helicopter was making a lot of noise, making it impossible to hear each other talk normally.

K-Mart was holding a binoculars, looking out on the icy grounds of Alaska. She took them off her eyes and turned her face towards Claire, disappointed.

"Nope, not yet", K-Mart shouted back.

Another disappointment. They had been flying for almost 3 days now and there were still no signs of life on the ground below. It made Claire question whether or not the journal, which she had tugged inside one of her coat pockets, was telling the truth. It had been 6 months after all since the message, reporting there was no infection in Alaska, was written, so there was a chance that there were no survivors anymore despite the hope Claire was holding onto. The hope to find a safe haven.

"Dammit", she whispered angrily.

Claire looked at the air-fuel meter, which was running low. "Nice timing", she thought defeated. Not only were they almost out of gas to fly any longer, but they also hadn't found what they were desperately trying to look for: civilisation. However, now they had to land in the middle of nowhere, not knowing which direction to take to reach their long saught after destiny.

It actually amazed Claire that the helicopter made it this far without refilling the tank. Maybe this helicopter was made to fly long distances, maybe it was something else. Claire didn't know, and she didn't need to know. All that she needed to focus on and care about now, was how to land this aircraft safely, without crashing it. Claire was happy that she once took a few flying lessons when the world wasn't infected yet. Thanks to those lessons, she now luckily knew how to safely land the chopper without accidentally crashing it, which was much to her relief.

"We're going to land.", Claire shouted towards the kids in the back.

"What? Why?" K-Mart asked.

"Because we're out of fuel", Claire explained.

"But there's nothing out here", K-Mart reasoned.

"I guess you're right, but we have no other choice", Claire answered solemnly.

With that, K-Mart got slightly unconfortable about Claire's plan. In her opinion, it was like their landing to the ground below wasn't going to be as safe as Claire had in mind. No, it felt like something big was going to happen. Something bad, though K-Mart didn't know what it was yet.

After a few minutes, Claire saw an open glacier and decided it was the perfect spot to land as the place was surrounded by snowy hills and pine tree forests. A spot just safe enough for them to get out of the chopper safely.

Slowly, Claire began the descend to the ground below...

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Once the helicopter had landed, Claire sighed out of relief. Her flying lessons from long ago had finally paid off.

The redhead and K-Mart were the first to get out as they wanted to secure the area. While they were doing this, the coldness quickly surrounded them. K-Mart immediately wrapped her arms around herself, chattering her teeth. This was quite an adjustment from the warm desert where they'd left from. The teenager looked out on the icy landscape in front of her. Nothing of danger could be seen, but that was as expected. It felt like no one, not even zombies, could survive in this coldness. Still, she had this inkling feeling from when they were about to land.

K-Mart was slightly annoyed by the location where they had landed. "Why did we have to land here, in the middle of nowhere?" she thought. Everywhere she looked, ice and snow stretched for miles and miles with here and there an occasional pine tree.

K-Mart thought about the nice times she had, flying in the back of the helicopter. While they were on their way to Alaska, she often teased the kids by making jokes, which mostly resulted in them laughing their butts off. And every once in a while, they played cards, which K-Mart had brought along with her. But this fun time now had made its change to a dangerous time, as they had to keep on moving. Zombies could be drawn to them, even if they were around in these cold circumstances, which K-Mart thought would be impossible as she believed the journal to be telling the truth.

"Yep, perfect place for a zombie to jump out at ya", K-Mart said in a slight sarcastic tone as she saw Claire still looking out for any danger.

"Let's get these kids out", Claire said after a while. Everything seemed safe, so they had to get ready to move on, hoping to find some human civilisation somewhere out there.

As Claire walked to the other side of the helicopter, K-Mart sighed and also walked back to it. "Take my hand", K-Mart said, reaching her hand to one of the children.

K-Mart lifted a little girl out of the helicopter. Claire did the same with a little boy on the other side of the aircraft.

Suddenly, Claire heard something cracking under her feet. She looked down, but only saw the snow-covered ground.

Thinking the cracking underneath her feet was just her imagination taking over, she continued getting the kids out of the helicopter. After all, she'd expected to have landed on solid soil and not something else. However, more cracks continued to sound underneath her feet, prompting Claire to investigate the sound anyway.

Removing some of the snow from the ground, revealing a crack in the ice underneath, Claire gasped. It appeared like they were standing on a huge area of frozen water instead of solid ground! And from the sound of it, it seemed like the helicopter was the responsible one for the cracking of the ice, indicating it to be too heavy for the ice to carry. Shocked, Claire came to the realization that the ice they were standing on was too thin and unable to hold the weight of the helicopter.

"Oh no", she whispered.

Suddenly, the realisation of their perilous situation had hit Claire right in the face. The ice couldn't hold the aircraft and since they didn't have any gas left to fly somewhere else, they had no choice but to act rapidly from now on. Claire also realized it was a bad idea to land the chopper here, right in the middle of nowhere, without a safety inspection.

First Claire had thought they'd be safe, landing in a clearing, but as she heard more cracking underneath her feet, she just knew for certain that they had to get out of there. If this ice couldn't hold the weight of the heavy aircraft, it meant that it would probably break apart, sinking the helicopter into the cold water underneath and taking the kids with it. She couldn't let this happen to the children, not in a million years. She'd rather die than to have her convoy die at the hands of something as simple as nature.

Claire kept thinking to herself about the fact that she should have been more careful, more protective of herself and her convoy. But she had no other choice. Had they'd been flying any longer, they probably would've crashed anyway, resulting in herself and all children dying. However, now she had the sole chance to get them out of the aircraft safely. The sole chance to end this on a fortunate note. But it had to happen quickly, before they sunk along with it. K-Mart noticed Claire while she was busy getting children out of the aircraft.

"What?" K-Mart asked, curious as to why Claire was so worried.

"The ice can't hold the chopper. We have to get these children out. Quickly!" Claire warned her.

K-Mart listened carefully and too heard the ice cracking, realising Claire was right. The ice underneath the aircraft was slowly breaking apart because of the heavy weight it was carrying, just like Claire had said. Immediately, she understood what Claire meant by getting the children out of the helicopter as quickly as they could, so she immediately kicked into action while the adrenaline was slowly increasing in both of their bloodstreams.

The children now were slowly beginning to panick, yelling and crying as they realised what was going on.

K-Mart took a handful of children and backed away from the chopper, afraid of crashing through the ice with it. She just didn't want to die, drowning in water that was freezing cold. So she'd rather stand a few feet away from it, protecting the other kids. After all, it was best to keep the kids on her side as safe as possible while Claire was still getting her side of the chopper cleared.

After a while, almost all children were out of the aircraft, except for a little boy. Claire reached her hand to the boy, but he was already a nervous wreck, afraid of jumping out of the helicopter as he was sitting on the backseat and holding onto a seatbelt as tightly as he could.

"Come on", Claire said, "Take my hand."

"I can't", the boy fearfully said while his whole body seemed to be shaking, "I'm afraid."

Claire always had little patience with children. Before all this, she had Otto to take care of the kids, so that she didn't have to deal much with them then. He truly was a great caretaker for them. But now Otto was dead, and whether she liked it or not, she had to deal with those little creatures herself now, which was why her patience was slowly running out.

Eventually, Claire just couldn't take it anymore. That kid had to get out of the damned aircraft, and quickly too, before it was too late. So she rapidly climbed into the chopper and grabbed the boys' arm firmly. However, that's when it happened...

Suddenly, the helicopter began to shake as one half of it's undercarriage began to crack through the ice with a sound so loud it could raise the dead, flipping the aircraft on its side and creating a huge jagged hole in the ice. Claire panicked and so did K-Mart, who was standing a few feet away from the scene. Afraid of losing Claire and the boy, K-Mart wanted to come to the rescue, but it felt like she was frozen to the ground. She couldn't move a muscle, even though she tried real hard. She was just too afraid to move, so she placed her hands over her mouth, gasping.

As the helicopter flipped on it's side, Claire and the boy both slid to the ground, falling to the gap of water in the ice that the aircraft had just created. Luckily for the boy, he had managed to hold onto the seatbelts on the backseats, dangling in the freezing water and crying like mad.

Claire, however, was pulled underwater with a loud splash. Opening her eyes, she noticed the bottom of what she tought was a lake several feet underneath her and the cockpit of the chopper above her while some of the wildlife quickly swam away. However, she quickly kicked into action as soon as she got her head straight again and started the struggle to reach the surface.

After a few seconds, Claire finally succeeded in doing so, emerging from the freezing water while gasping and coughing loudly. The coldness quickly wrapped itself around her, causing her to chatter her teeth immediately and her wet coppery hair to stuck to her face. While splashing in the cold water, she quickly looked around and realised that she had managed to surface in the part where the controls were, seeing the boy behind the chairs.

"Hold on", Claire said shivering, "I'm going to safe you."

As the boy was crying, regretting that he hadn't jumped out of the helicopter earlier, Claire stretched her arm out to one of the seats and managed to grab a hold of the edge of it. Pulling her cold and chattering self out of the water, she clambered to the side of the chopper that was on top. She felt even colder now, even to the point of freezing. Her clothes were as soaked as can be, resulting in her entire body feeling like an icicle. However, she ignored the freezing pain and quickly stretched her hand out to the boy, who was now beneath her.

"Grab my hand", Claire shouted while continuing to chatter her teeth.

A shivering boy took Claire's hand and with all of her strength, Claire pulled the boy out of the water and on top of the chopper. Next thing she did was immediately lifting the boy into her arms, rushing to get the hell out of there and trying to shelter the boy from the cold as she tried to share some body heat. Quickly, she looked around and prepared herself to jump off the helicopter without being hurt. That's when she saw an opportunity, just as the aircraft was about to disappear under the water, and with one giant leap, she jumped over the undercarriage of the helicopter and onto the ice, landing safely. She quickly backed away from the chopper as it kept sinking through the ice. Finally, all was over and done with...

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Now that all was safe, Claire put the boy she was holding on the ground again. Sighing, Claire looked behind her and saw the aircraft disappearing under the ice. However, she tried not to care about it as she'd just made a stupid mistake, so she turned her head towards the rest of the group and kept walking, acting calmly like nothing happened. In fact, she didn't care about anything anymore. She made a stupid mistake, nothing more, nothing less. K-Mart looked happy that Claire had made it out of the chopper alive, but she was also sad that they now had nowhere to go.

As soon as Claire made it to the group with the boy in tow, K-Mart immediately wrapped her arms around her in a hug.

"I thought you were dead", K-Mart said relieved.

"Don't worry", Claire calmed her down, "I'm not going anywhere."

After they hugged, K-Mart kept staring at Claire. However, instead of happiness, she now had a more serious expression on her face as she was worried about where to go from here.

"Where are we supposed to go now? K-Mart said hopelessly, "We're in the middle of nowhere."

But Claire just walked past the rest of the group. "We have to keep moving", Claire said solemnly while still shivering from the cold.

K-Mart just nodded and followed Claire, leading the children.

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**Author's note: Now you've read about the three factions in this story: Alice/clones, Umbrella/Jill and Claire/K-Mart. From now on, I'll continue with these factions. However, there'll be more/less factions added as the story progresses. I'm not telling which ones, so you just need to read for yourself to find out. Please read and review. **


	4. Crimson Alert

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

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The smell of rotting flesh overwhelmed Alice as she stepped over yet another dead body. The walls around her had bloodstains all over them and the floor was littered with dead scientists. It made her realise that Isaacs didn't just destroy the labs, but the hallways too. Seeing all those dead bodies gave her a creepy feeling, especially since the lights in the hallway, where she currently was, were flickering every so often.

Even after 5 years of seeing destruction all around her, Alice still wasn't used to the chaos that had struck these labs. But nonetheless, she ventured further into the hallway, opening several doors on her way through it.

It had been half an hour since Alice had left her duplicate to look for any help, whether it was from the White Queen or from someone else. Even though she just met this holographic little girl, she was the only one that could get her and the rest of her clones out of the building without getting killed off by a horde of zombies. Besides, without her, Alice would've never had an army of multiple versions of herself to beat Umbrella with. So she was thankful for this computer-generated hologram, even though she didn't trust "it" fully yet.

Alice opened yet another door and looked into the room. In it, there was a dead security guard, partially covered in blood and sitting behind a desk. But despite the fact that it was a disgusting image, she stepped inside the room. She'd seen many different dead bodies before, so this was nothing new to her.

On the wall in the back of the room, there were a lot of screens, all security feeds. Some of them were smashed, probably by Isaacs' doings. But most of what had been left intact were showing her clone, standing in front of the window of the cloneroom, and the other clones trying to get out of their spheres, through security cameras.

"Controll freaks", Alice thought, realising Umbrella monitored everything in the facility.

On the desk, there was a computer showing a map of the facility Alice was in. Alice walked towards the computer and typed in a key on the keyboard, which was looking like someone frantically typed in some keys with bloody fingers. The White Queens' face appeared on the screen.

Alice still was not used to seeing this hologram of a little girl in a white nightgown, though this hologram had good intentions, in contrast with the Red Queen in The Hive. She even gave instructions for making a cure for the T-virus, using Alice's blood. But could this hologram be trusted? Alice didn't know for sure. She just had to trust her instincts.

"Alice, did you defeat Isaacs?" The White Queen asked.

"I sure did", Alice answered.

"Then how can I help you?" The White Queen continued.

"You could open the doors", Alice replied.

"I will", the White Queen concluded.

A content Alice turned off the computer and went into the hallway again, on her way to her clone.

After a few minutes, Alice returned to the room where she previously watched her duplicates awake with a copy of herself. Only now, though, the clone was gone and was nowhere to be seen at first glance. Alice began to question herself what happened here, but suddenly she could hear a strange moaning sound next to her. She turned her head towards the sound, only to see a crimson head feeding on the clone, who had been pushed on a table.

"How did that thing come in here?" a shocked Alice thought by herself, "All the doors were locked."

But then Alice remembered saying to the White Queen that all doors could be opened, thinking that zombies still walking around never would've been a possibility. Guess she was wrong. And now this zombie had made it in here and had started to shamelessly devour her clone. Her eyes widened and she gasped upon seeing the undead monster feeding on what was once her exact copy.

The crimson head heard Alice and slowly turned it's head towards her, making a groaning sound. However, Alice quickly drew a Kukri-blade from her belt and threw it at the crimson head's head. The blade clove right through it and the crimson head fell down to the floor. For now, the danger was finally over.

Relieved that the crimson head was gone, Alice slowly walked towards her clone to see if she was really dead. The clone was lying dead on the table, blood covering her face and coat. A huge hole was made through the coat, showing a massive gash on her stomach, created by that monster.

Alice still wasn't used to seeing herself being dead. It gave her a feeling of angst and strangeness at the same time. This was also the case before, when she was knocked into her clones' sphere by Isaacs, who was then already turned into a hideous creature. Alice remembered holding her naked self in her arms. It was like watching herself in the mirror, only different.

"It must have been a shock to you too, seeing yourself", Alice thought.

Alice gently placed her finger on her clones' neck, checking if there was a possible heartbeat. However, there was none. All of a sudden, Alice's eyes began to sting. The loss of someone who had looked exactly like herself really brought out the emotional side in her. Not ever did she wanted to lose somebody ever again. Not ever.

However, Alice quickly pulled herself together and composed herself before she could've broken down in tears. She knew exactly what to do with her grief, and she just didn't want to waste any time by doing that. She quickly looked at the crimson head, which was lying next to the table on the ground. The Kukri-blade was still sticking upright out of its head, so Alice crouched down and pulled her Kukri-blade out of it.

That's when suddenly, the clone's eyes opened, having a milky white look. Having been turned into an undead, the clone noticed the woman that was crouching down next to the table where she lied on. A nice meal, so before Alice could get up, her duplicate let herself fall from the table, lunging for Alice. In just seconds, the zombified clone was on top of Alice, trying to take a chunk right out of her neck.

As her survival instinct kicked in, Alice struggled to get away from her duplicate, throwing her zombie clone off of her. Breathing heavily as she regained her strength from the struggle, Alice quickly stood up and looked at her zombified self as it was slowly walking towards her.

"No one's feeding on my flesh!" Alice said through her teeth.

With that, Alice quickly pulled out a gun and shot a bullet right at the clone's head. In just seconds, the bullet made its way over to the clone's head and crashed right into it, destroying what's been left over of the clone's brain. Next, the duplicate stopped walking and collapsed onto the floor.

As the clone fell down to the ground, Alice put the gun back into its holster. She watched the clone lying on the ground, and although she had just met her a few hours ago, she still felt for her. Alice blamed her death on the Umbrella Corporation. Had they not been experimenting with viruses, all of what she herself had been through wouldn't have happened and thus what her clone had been through wouldn't have happened. In fact, there wouldn't have been any clones to begin with. She didn't feel sorry anymore. No, instead she felt rage building up inside of her.

Alice turned around and walked closer to the window where she saw that most of her clones were already out of their spheres, and were lying naked on the ground, adjusting to their new environment. Alice watched further around the clone room and noticed there was no door out of the room nor were there any clothes for the clones to put on.

"Damn Umbrella purists", Alice thought, as she imagined Umbrella-scientists not giving a damn about people's lives, even if they were horribly screwed. They didn't even provide her clones with a way out of there, trapping them inside the room and forcing them to be nude. They just treated their experiments like things, having no compassion for them whatsoever.

Alice focused on one of the clones, observing her duplicate. She'd never realised how she looked like through the eyes of others, but now she understood what Carlos saw in her. She was a fairly beautiful woman with bright green eyes, strawberry blonde hair and a healthy-looking slim body. No wonder that Carlos was attracted to her.

However, Alice's gaze at her clone came to an abrupt end when she saw her duplicate beginning to convulse and cough up blood. Horrified, Alice looked at the other clones, who all were experiencing the same symptoms. It seemed like some invisible gas had just been released into the cloneroom, which caused the clones to exhibit the convulsing and the coughing of blood. It all seemed to become worse and worse.

Worried, Alice quickly began to pound with her fists on the window, hoping to break it and save all of her clones from whatever was going on. She just needed to save them, or else there would only be her against the Umbrella Corporation. Besides, she just lost a clone and there was no way she ever wanted to lose someone ever again. So she continued to pound her fists against the window.

"Hang on!" Alice shouted, "I'm coming."

However, the glass was too thick and tough, making it impossible to break into the room. Alice just had to let her clones cough up blood and there was nothing she could do about it. She just couldn't reach them, which was the worst part of it all. Realising she was never going to be able to save her clones in time, Alice slowly placed her hand on the window as she wasn't able to do anything about it.

The next thing that happened, was that all of the clones started to die, lying down on the ground motionless. One by one, Alice saw all of her clones dying. A horrible sight. This wasn't what she hoped would've happened. But now, all hope seemed gone.

Alice started thinking and came to the conclusion that Umbrella was behind all this. By releasing an invisible and deadly gas into the cloneroom and with all of her clones out of the way, she could never beat Umbrella by herself. Umbrella definitely was a selfish bastard. The only thing she needed to know now, was who was head of this "bastard" of a corporation. Only then, her revenge would be bittersweet. So she started to walk towards the hall where the White Queen was before, hoping to gain some answers from it.

When Alice arrived in the hall through a door, she didn't see the hologram of the little girl. "White Queen", Alice called her.

The White Queen appeared in the same place she did before. It was like a light suddenly went on. The White Queen almost looked like a ghost, with her white nightgown draped to the floor. Upon seeing her, Alice rushed towards her, demanding answers. "What's going on?" she asked.

"A self destruct program has been activated", the White Queen answered.

"By who?" Alice asked puzzled.

"His name is...", the White Queen replied.

Suddenly, the White Queen disappeared, emptiness filling the space where she used to stand. Alice grew desperate, not knowing what to do. She looked around, searching for the White Queen. She decided to hurry to the clone room again. But before she could put one step forward, the door suddenly automatically closed itself, making it impossible for Alice to return there. Alice looked around, helpless like she never was before, when the room began to rumble and shake.

The sun shone on the house on the surface, where hundreds of zombies were walking around. That was, until all of a sudden, the house blew up. As if there had been lit on dynamite underneath it, there was a big bang and a huge explosion, taking the zombies with it. Like thunder, the sound of the explosion could be heard from miles away. Smoke made its way into the sky quickly after this blast.

Somewhere in the desert, a jeep was driving around. Suddenly, the jeep stopped and out stepped a man with short dark hair, a muscular build, hazelbrown eyes and a stubble. He was wearing a black army vest over a brown shirt, blue jeans and sunglasses and looked to be in his late-20s. The man watched confused at the pillar of smoke, coming from the explosion. He slowly removed his sunglasses, both hoping there might be someone left alive, and impressed and surprised that that someone caused such an explosion...

* * *

**Author's note: Uh oh, looks like someone took care of Alice. Will she survive all this? And who is this mysterious man? Read further and find out. Please read and review.**


	5. Survival Of The Fittest

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

_An Umbrella-helicopter was flying out of Raccoon City. In it were Alice, Jill, Carlos, Angie and L.J. _

_It had been quite a day for them, especially for Jill. From waking up yesterday morning to find a city full of zombies to getting out of Raccoon City in one of Umbrella's helicopters, it was a busy day. A busy day full of fighting, surviving and shooting zombies in the head every once in a while._

_Jill Valentine knew zombies all too well. Before the outbreak and before she got suspended, Jill was on a mission in the Arklay Mountains. Her chief had previously said there were some strange things going on. So he send her and her team to clean up the mess, before it could leak to the media, whatever 'it' was. _

_At first, it all seemed like a normal mission back then. But before they had declared that the area was safe, they heard something in the woods, nearing them. Upon seeing this 'something', Jill couldn't believe her eyes. Surrounding her team were these horrible creatures, ones that could only have existed in her nightmares. They tried to shoot them, but everytime, they just stood up and continued to walk towards them. _

_So they had to find a way to kill them, hoping to safely leave the forest they were in. They succeeded, having figured out that they needed to shoot them in the head, but not before there were several casualties and the Umbrella Corporation interfered with it, saying they would handle it. This made Jill Valentine suspicious of the corporation to this day, and she was right. _

_When the outbreak was about to start in Raccoon City, she warned her chief of the dangerous activities the Umbrella Corporation was doing. But he wouldn't believe her, saying it was just a rumour, and suspended her when she kept pushing the subject. But it all turned out to be true when people in Raccoon City indeed got infected. _

_The next thing Jill did was trying to escape the city, trying to get away from the creatures that already swarmed the streets of Raccoon City. And that's exactly the reason why she was now flying away from the haunted city in one of Umbrella's choppers._

_Jill felt her muscles relax, as she settled down on a seat inside the helicopter. Finally, she felt like she could rest and take the opportunity to sit back. After all, she felt like she deserved it. They were all sitting in the cabin of the aircraft, with Carlos the only one standing. Finally, they all could rest after a hectic day full of killing zombies and trying to survive._

_That's when they all saw the nuclear bomb flying towards the high skyscraper, where they just left from. _

_A few hours ago, they were briefed on the situation by Dr. Charles Ashford. He told them a nuclear bomb was about to destroy Raccoon City and that, if they wanted to skip town, they had to go to City Hall, where an helicopter would be waiting for them. As they certainly didn't want to be nuked with the rest of the city, they listened to this doctor, despite the fact that they didn't fully trust this man. However, there was indeed a helicopter waiting for them, just as the doctor had told. The same helicopter that they were now flying in._

_Suddenly, there was an explosion as the bomb went off on top of the building, sending a nuclear wave to it's surroundings. Preparing for the impact the nuclear wave would have on the helicopter, Carlos turned his face to the group. _

_"Hang on to something!" Carlos shouted._

_Jill panicked and grabbed the iron bar next to her, hoping she wouldn't get wounded by the blastwave the bomb generated. She hadn't experienced a nuclear explosion before, so she took all measures neccessary to ensure her own safety. Besides, she didn't know how strong this wave would rock the helicopter back and forth, so it was better to be safe than sorry. _

_Next, the nuclear wave hit the helicopter, shaking it violently. They all got hold of something, as it suddenly seemed like an earthquake was occurring inside the helicopter.._

_Suddenly, a loose iron bar came loose and went flying around the cabin towards Angie. As soon as Angie noticed what was going on, she gasped as she saw the iron bar coming straight at her. Fearing it would hit her, Angie closed her eyes. If she indeed got hit, then she didn't need to see it. She just didn't want to see herself die, just like her dad did hours before. _

_But the pain never came. Instead, Angie heard the iron bar clashing into something solid and someone muttering something afterwards, as if that someone had taken the hit for her. That's when she curiously opened her eyes and saw that the iron bar had perforated Alice's stomach, instead of hers. Alice was the one who took the hit for her. Angie widened her eyes in shock, and saw Alice collapsing onto the floor. The iron bar was sticking out of her abdomen, bleeding furiously. However, Angie didn't have time to react to this poor tragedy, as the helicopter suddenly began to crash._

_"We're going down!", Carlos shouted._

_Jill quickly ducked her body down onto her lap and put her hands against her ears, hoping her death would come fast. She was ready to die, because the world already went to hell. It just wouldn't matter anymore with the zombies and the evil corporations. She just had enough of it, which is why she wanted to just die._

_However, all of a sudden, a metal cabinet inside the aircraft slammed open and out fell a few containers of parachutes. This made Carlos look up from his position and notice the containers. Amidst the chaos, Carlos saw the containers and he immediately ran over to them. Hope glanced in his eyes as it seemed like the parachutes were exactly the things they desperately needed. Maybe they were doomed, but they at least needed to try to get out of this crashing aircraft alive. And if the parachutes could help them with this, then they were lucky enough to use them. _

_"Maybe this could work", Carlos said to himself as he began picking up a few containers. He quickly ran towards Jill and placed 2 containers in her lap, one for her and one for Angie. They just had to survive, so he had to act quickly now. _

_Jill looked up confused. "Aren't we already doomed", she thought, "so why the parachutes?" _

_But hope glanced in Carlos' eyes. "Put these on. Quick!" he shouted._

_Jill sighed as she put on a container. Even though she didn't think it would work, she listened to Carlos anyway. At first she thought they weren't going to get out of this aircraft, at least not alive. But after seeing the parachutes and Carlos' hopeful glance, she began to think differently. It wasn't the first time Jill Valentine had parachuted out of a crashing aircraft, so she deemed it worthy enough to at least try to leave the helicopter unharmed. _

_Quickly, Jill gave one container to Angie. Carlos ran over to L.J. and handed a container over to him. L.J. looked up, showing the same confused reaction Jill had. _

_"You have to be kidding me", L.J. shouted. But Carlos was already busy putting on his own container, so she didn't have time to react._

_Jill rapidly ran to the back of the chopper and opened the helicopters' liege. A gust of wind almost knocked her to the ground, but she kept on standing, holding herself onto another iron bar. L.J. and Carlos came running to her, as fast as they could. Jill reached her hand to Angie. "Come on, Angie!" she shouted._

_Angie looked at Alice, who was lying on the floor, then turned her eyes towards Jill. "What about Alice?" she asked._

_Jill looked at Alice, the one who saved all of them. The one who risked her life to save Angie just a few minutes ago. The woman who showed remarkable skills, especially in her battle with what Jill thought was something monstrous and horrific. She couldn't just leave Alice there, but she had no other choice. Bringing Alice with them would only slow them down, especially if they had ro carry her with them. She looked at Angie again._

_"It's okay. We'll pick her up later", Jill reassured her, "I promise."_

_Angie understood Jill's point of view. They had to act quickly, and saving Alice wasn't part of the plan. She understood it perfectly, since she also didn't want to die by being slowed down. So she put her hand into Jills' hand and together, they jumped off the helicopter's liege and descended from the aircraft. L.J. and Carlos followed quickly. _

_In mid-air, Jill pulled the ripcord out of her container and out came a parachute. Angie, Carlos and L.J. did the same thing. As Jill was floating in the air, a forest came nearer in sight. A forest with green pine trees and sandy paths..._

* * *

Jills' eyes opened, looking right into a light in the ceiling. She felt strange and disoriented, like something happened to her that she couldn't quite describe. It was a tingling feeling, like something was inside her. However, she couldn't remember anything, except for the dream she just had, which seemed like something that had happened to her before...

She didn't know how she could possibly be alive when she should be dead. That's the last thing she remembered: being dead. But why? Why did she remember that when she was fully alive now? It seemed impossible, but it was somehow true. True to a T, somehow...

Putting her thoughts aside, a groaning Jill gathered her strength and tried to get up. That's when she saw herself in a huge mirror on a wall in front of her. Somehow, she'd been laid down on a metal operation table in an empty white and sterile room. Medical lights were shining down on her, illuminating every corner of the room. It looked like a hospital room, being all white and spotless.

"How did I end up here?" Jill thought, still a bit disoriented, "And where's Angie?"

The metal table felt cold against her bare legs. She looked down and noticed the square of white on her bare torso. It looked like some sort of paper gown, consisting of 2 sheets of white paper, which were held together by a transparant fiber string around her chest and around her lower waist. It hung from the top of her chest and draped down her front and back to her thighs. Just enough to cover her modesty, since she was entirely naked underneath the gown. She wasn't even wearing underwear or shoes or anything. Just the sheets of paper and nothing else. And on top of that, the sides of her gown were left open, showing her entire bare body underneath.

Jill felt embarassed, exposed and confused. Where the heck were her clothes? What is this? It felt humiliating, especially since, basically, the flimsy gown covered nothing but her front and back. A large part of her naked body was still visible, especially from the sides. It just felt embarassing. She needed her clothes back, and fast! She felt her hair, which was as much a mess as it was wet, as small drops of water slid down her bare back and underneath her gown. Chills were running down her spine.

"Wh-wh-what's going on?" a confused Jill tried to say, her voice a little hoarse. However, there was no response.

IV's were connected to her limbs and head, coming from a machine that hung on the ceiling near the lights. They punctured her skin, being attached to her like she was a pin cushion. After the disorientation wore off, Jill screamed in excruciating pain as she suddenly felt them, draining blood from her aching body. The pointy objects were sticking out of her arms, legs, sides and even her head. The mindnumbing sensation coursed throughout her entire body, causing her to cry in agony. Wanting to get rid of the things that were sticking into her body as quickly as possible, her body ached as her shaking hand started to remove the IV's, pulling the needles out of her skin one by one. The pain was unbearable with every needle she pulled out of her throbbing body.

Jill loudly winced in pain, especially when she pulled the last needle out of her head, which she kept for last as it seemed long enough for it to tap into her brain. Mindnumbing, searing pain coursed through her body as a screaming Jill felt the needle slit out of her head until it was fully removed and she threw it away with disgust. A small section of her hair had been shaved off to make room for that last IV. Small wounds were on her body, including ones that had been made before. They looked like needle marks, and were bleeding a little bit, red liquid flowing down her exposed skin.

However, Jill ignored her wounds and the sharp intense pain that was still coursing through her body and turned her attention to a door in the wall on her right side, which appeared to be locked and thus seemed to be a problem. She needed to get the hell out of this room, no matter what. She felt scared of what had been done to her that had made her end up here and she needed clothes. She'd rather not walk around in her current atrocious outfit.

Jill tried to get off the operation table, climbing off the edge, but she fell on the floor, still being weak from the large amount of blood that was drawn from her. Somehow, her legs didn't seem to be working, which made her tumble from the operation table and onto the cold floor. Her jaw hurt as it hit the floor. However, she didn't want to just give up. She just had to get out of here. So a groaning Jill pulled herself up, using the operation table, and slowly stumbled towards the door, bare feet touching the cold floor.

A keycard lock sat on the wall next to the door. Jill looked at it carefully once she'd reached the exit, then got an idea. Maybe she could disrupt the circuits in the lock with something sharp. Something like an IV. She turned her head back to the operation table and managed to walk to it, pulling an IV free from the machine on the ceiling.

She quickly returned to the door and stuck the IV into the locking mechanism. She just wanted to escape as quickly as possible, sick of wearing paper sheets and feeling like an experiment. Next, she slowly lowered the IV through the device, until there was a click and a few sparks coming from the locking mechanism. And then the door opened...

"Warning! Subject escape! Warning! Subject escape!"

Suddenly, there was an alarm going off, speakers announcing her escape, which scared Jill a little. Breathing hard to collect her strength, Jill leaned against the doorframe. She saw that the doorframe she was leaning in was one of many in a white and straight hallway, which led to a sliding door. On the ceiling throughout the hallway were various security cameras, recording her every movement now that she was out of her room. However, Jill didn't care about it. If they needed to look at her near-nudity, whoever 'they' were, then so be it, even though she didn't like it at all.

As Jill slowly walked into the hallway, still a bit frail from the loss of blood, the sliding door at the end of the hallway suddenly opened and 3 men came running into the hallway. All three of them were wearing white hazmat suits, having an Umbrella-logo on the middle of their chests and foreheads, and they were armed with rifles. The men stopped at Jill and held her at gunpoint.

Jill looked up at the men as she was leaning against the wall and suddenly felt even more embarassed. She was only wearing two paper sheets around her naked body, nothing else. They could just about see every inch of her bare skin and they were fully dressed in a way that made her feel like she was an escaped infected animal. Quite a big difference. And it seemed like they definitely didn't want her to escape, which was even worse.

However, Jill wasn't impressed by the guns the men were carrying and stepped forward, ready to punch one of the men in the stomach. She just needed to escape from this hellhole, get away from these people who wanted to use her as a labrat, and this seemed like the right moment to ditch these men and run away. She wanted to fight for her freedom, that was for sure.

However, she still was a bit weak, and therefore her reflexes weren't working the way they should've been working. Which is why, before Jill could notice it, one of the men lifted up his rifle and knocked her out by using the butt of it. In just a matter of seconds, the cold metal of the rifle slammed against her head and she lost her balance, resulting in Jill tumbling to the floor.

Next, Jill collapsed onto the floor, her eyes spiraling into a total abyss. One of the last things she remembered was gloved hands sliding under her armpits and around her legs in order to be lifted up off the ground by the same men who had knocked her unconscious. Next, she last recalled being taken back to her room before the world went to black.

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**Author's note: In this and the following chapters, Jill will be flashing back to the time before she became Umbrella's guinea pig. Read further and find out how she was put under their control. Please read and review.**


	6. Canine Trouble

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

Claire, K-Mart and the kids were walking through a pine forest while the sun was setting and the sky was turning orange. Claire and K-Mart were ahead of the kids. It had been an hour since the chopper drowned.

Claire kept seeing the image of the helicopter sinking into the cold water again and again. The only means of rescue was slipping away and there was nothing she could do about it. She and the rest of the group just weren't strong enough to keep the chopper from tipping over and crashing through the ice.

She blamed herself for what happened. Had she not landed the chopper in the middle of nowhere, they'd still have the vehicle with them. But now all possible methods of quick transport were gone and they had to keep walking. Staying at one spot could be dangerous for all of them, since the possible threat of the undead dawned on all members of her group. And if that didn't help matters, they still had to keep looking for any sort of civilization, which was a huge motivation for them to keep walking through the freezing landscape.

Suddenly, Claire saw something from the corner of her eye. She turned to look at it and saw a black wolf walking past the trees a few miles from them. Curious, she immediately took the binoculars from her coat pocket and looked through them at the wolf, which seemed to near them.

Now that Claire was having an enlarged vision on the animal, she saw that it had skinned spots all over its body, like chunks of flesh had been torn from it. Taking a closer look at the head of the animal, Claire noticed both its eyes had a milky white look, which indicated that this wolf was infected with the virus. Shocked, she looked up from the binoculars.

K-Mart was walking next to Claire. Ever since their chopper sunk, she'd been right next to her, like she'd been since Claire's group had gotten her out of an abandoned K-Mart store. Being close to Claire always had felt secure, so she was also in close vicinity of her now.

Looking at the woman that was walking next to her, K-Mart noticed that Claire was looking through binoculars at a certain spot in the forest they were going through. She tapped on her shoulder, almost scaring her.

"Hey, what's wrong?" K-Mart asked.

Claire turned her face towards K-Mart with worry in her eyes. Something wasn't right.

"We're being followed", Claire answered back.

K-Mart at first couldn't believe what Claire just said. Ever since they'd arrived in this cold and empty wasteland, she'd seen nothing but the rest of the group she'd been walking with. No other humans or animals had been sighted as far as she knew, so Claire's answer certainly came as a surprise.

"What?" K-Mart muttered.

Claire handed her the binoculars. "Here, look past me", she said.

K-Mart looked through them past Claire. A few feet away from the group, she saw a black wolf walking through the forest. She looked closer and noticed something strange about the wolf. It's eyes had a strange milky look and the wolf overall seemed to have pieces of skin ripped from its body.

K-Mart took the binoculars off her eyes and looked at Claire, afraid. She hadn't been this afraid since the day a flock of infected crows attacked the convoy they were traveling in. She thought she was safe, now that they were in the middle of nowhere. But now, there was another threat coming their way. A seemingly infected and dangerous threat.

"It's infected?" K-Mart asked shaking.

Claire nodded, fearing the worst. How were they supposed to get away from this infected creature? How were they going to handle this situation? Or rather, how was she going to handle the situation? She was made out to be the leader of the group, so she had to make the difficult decisions for them.

Claire blamed the condition they were in on the journal, which had guided them there. But on the other hand, had there not been a journal, they still would've been traveling through the desert, looking for a drop of fuel to gas up their vehicles. Not the best way to survive a zombie apocalypse.

"But the journal said this place was clean", K-Mart said.

"Guess we were just getting our hopes up", Claire said sighing.

As they were walking further along the path, Claire saw more wolves approaching her group on the left and right. It seemed like they were attracted to their presence. The more wolves she saw, the more frightened she became.

All of a sudden, she took her gun from her belt. But instead of aiming the weapon at the wolves, she gave it to K-Mart.

"Here", Claire said.

For a moment, Claire was just sick of everyone looking up to her, especially under these circumstances. She had been a leader her whole life, and she felt like it was enough for her now and she was ready to accept her fate.

Claire Redfield was a tough girl. She grew up with her brother Chris, who was several years older than her. Her dad abandoned their family when she was just a kid, and her mother was an alcoholic. And although Chris was older than her, she still had to take care of him. As he was following in his mother's footsteps, getting drunk nearly every night, she had to babysit him every night.

When her brother grew older, Claire was happy that he finally came to his senses and joined U.B.C.S., Umbrella's law-enforcing unit. She could finally experience what it felt like to not be a leader. And if it wasn't for the outbreak of the T-virus, she still would've been carefree. But now she was leading a group of children whose parents she didn't even know. She just picked them up in deserted homes, and they just tagged along in her convoy.

However, she just had enough of it at this moment. She didn't want to be a leader anymore. Time for someone else to take over her job and K-Mart seemed suitable. Although she wasn't as experienced as her, K-Mart could definitely fit the bill. Claire was certain of it.

K-Mart looked down at the gun. She knew Claire too well to know that this gesture was meant to hand over Claire's position of leader to her. K-Mart questioned herself many times if she was ready to be able to lead. She was just 17 years old, barely an adult. How could she be sure that she was ready to be a leader? She looked at Claire, still questioning herself.

"But what about you?" K-mart asked, since the gun in her hand was the only one they had left over.

Claire seemed sure about herself as she looked at K-mart. "I can take care of myself", she reassured her.

K-Mart still looked uncertain at the gun as they walked further along the path. She also noticed that more wolves were gathering around them.

Claire turned to face the path they were walking on, feeling contempt with herself. It felt like a lot of weight had fallen from her now that she wasn't the leader anymore. She finally was relieved.

Suddenly, Claire stopped dead in her tracks, as a wolf was blocking their way. The rest of the group also stopped walking. They were held up, as the wolf was growling angrily at the group. Slowly, other growling wolves surrounded them, standing a few feet away from them. The group was trapped and there seemed to be no way out. Not without crossing a wolf.

Everyone became scared and Claire started thinking. Although she wasn't the leader anymore, she still was alot older and more responsible than most of the group. She hated thinking about possible solutions to problems, but she cared too much for these children to leave them to their fate. There had to be a way to get out of this mess.

A little boy stepped forward and touched K-Mart's hand. K-Mart looked at the boy.

"K-Mart, I'm scared", the little boy said shaking.

"I know", K-Mart responded, hoping it'd be a comfort.

K-Mart looked at Claire, uncertain of what to do next. She didn't feel much like a leader at the moment, so she automatically relied on Claire. Slowly but surely, the wolves started to move closer. Claire looked back at K-Mart. From the look on her face, K-Mart could tell that she had a plan.

"Okay, as soon as I say it, we split up", she explained, "That's the only way to spare victims."

K-Mart gulped. This meant some of the children would die. She didn't want to make that sacrifice, but they had no other choice. They had to escape, or else they'd all be killed. K-Mart turned to the rest of the group and told them what they needed to do next. Afterwards, she turned to Claire again.

"Okay, we're ready", K-Mart notified Claire, as she readied herself to run away as fast as she could.

"Okay. Now!" Claire shouted.

Quickly, the group began to split into factions and ran everywhere they could go. As soon as the wolves noticed what was going on, chaos began. Some of the children were moving slower than the wolves, so they automatically got attacked first. Pinning them to the ground, the wolves began to feed on the kids, making holes through their clothes and creating huge gashes through their skins.

The wolf that was standing in front of the group started to chase K-Mart. Not wanting to end up like the other kids, K-Mart made a run for it, fearing for her life.

However, the wolf eventually caught up to K-Mart and tackled her to the ground. Falling to the snow-covered soil, K-mart accidentally dropped her gun. She immediately rolled over on her back while the wolf got on top of her. Blocking her face from its sharp teeth, K-Mart tried to throw the wolf off of her. She fought for her life as the wolf tried to bite into her neck.

Luckily, there was a rock not that far from K-Mart. So she grabbed it off the ground and quickly smashed it against the wolf's skull. Next, the wolf went unconscious from the blow. As soon as she shoved the wolf off of her, K-Mart rapidly began to crawl away from the wolf towards the gun.

However, as quickly as K-Mart could reach for the gun, the wolf behind her woke up and sank its teeth into the flesh of her leg in just a matter of seconds. K-Mart screamed as she felt the intense pain course through her body. In just seconds, she felt the T-Virus running through her body, but that didn't stop her from fighting.

Ignoring the pain in her body, K-Mart immediately kicked the infected animal unconscious with her other leg. As the wolf fell down to the ground next to her, K-Mart directly began to crawl towards the gun on the ground, struggling to get away from the chaos that was surrounding her. When she reached the weapon, she grabbed it off the ground and ran from the battlefield to hide behind a tree.

Behind the tree, K-Mart looked at her leg. Her stocking was severely ruptured and the wound on her leg was bleeding heavily, blood pouring out of it and running into her shoes. She was bitten, which meant that she was infected. K-Mart knew that once you were infected, it would only be a matter of time before you turned into one of the undead. She just hoped the infection would spread slowly, so that she would'nt have to turn into a zombie for a long time. She just wasn't ready to die. Yet.

Turning around to aim her gun at the wolves, K-Mart tried to shoot at them. However, she soon noticed that she was out of bullets, so she checked the gun's magazine. The gun's magazine was empty, however, leaving her unable to shoot the wolves and save the remaining children.

"Dammit", K-Mart cursed, angry that the gun was useless now.

K-Mart tried to look for Claire, but she was already nowhere to be seen. So she dropped the gun to the ground and fled from the battleground, limping away and hurting and wincing from the infected wound.

* * *

**Author's note: Will K-Mart survive her infection? And what's going to happen to Claire? Please read and review.**


	7. Red Field

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

_When she entered the room, Alice thought she was having a deja vu. Everything looked the same as in her memories. From the leather couch next to her to the wooden desk that was standing on her left, this room seemed exactly like the one she and Spence used to live in, working for Umbrella. _

_It just seemed strange to her. Why would anyone build an exact replica of this room? Why expecially this room? And what was the purpose behind it? All these questions and thoughts were running around in her head as she wandered further into the room._

_As she looked at the wooden desk to her left, she noticed the picture frame that was on it. Curious as to what picture it was holding, she walked over to the piece of furniture and picked it up while knocking over some chess pieces on a chessboard. _

_"This can't be", Alice thought as she looked at the photograph._

_The photo in her hands showed her in a wedding dress next to Spence, who was wearing a tuxedo. Exactly the same picture they'd made when they got married. Of course their marriage was a fake, but Umbrella just felt the need to remind them of it in some kind of sick way. Alice questioned herself how this photograph had ended up here as she left it in the mansion the day Spence released the virus into the Hive. _

_But there wasn't any time to wonder left as Alice saw a sudden movement in the reflection of the picture. _

_Quickly diving to the side, Alice just managed to avoid being hit by the same creature that knocked her into her clone's sphere earlier. It seemed this monster was out to get her as it slammed its arm right through the desk, breaking the piece of furniture in half. _

_After the creature realised he'd missed her, he turned and swung his fist towards her, intending to hit her full in the face. However, Alice just managed to evade this blow too, resulting in the monster slamming its fist right through a wall. As it seemed like this monster wasn't going to be defeated by physical force alone, Alice pulled out her Kukri-knife._

_"This isn't over yet", Alice thought as she revengefully watched the creature. No way this ugly thing would get away without getting his ass kicked._

_After avoiding yet another blow, Alice took a good look at the creature as they circled around each other. Now that she could see it properly, she noticed the enhanced muscles in its chest and arms, like this creature had been to the gym a little too much. But the most noticable feature about this thing was its face. It was only now that Alice realised that this thing was in fact Dr. Isaacs. Somehow, he'd been transformed into one of the most ugliest and hideous creatures she had ever seen. Not only had his skin turned into a grayish color, but his muscles also seemed to exist out of millions of tentacles. _

_However, before she could make out any further details about the monster in front of her, it lashed out towards her. _

_As quick as she could be, Alice evaded the attack and immediately sliced her blade through Isaacs' chest, creating a deep cut. Now she was the one making the damage to him, instead of the opposite. _

_However, as Alice was about to strike again, Isaacs quickly grabbed her arm with a loud roar. Before she could react in time, the creature knocked her to the floor. The Kukri-knife flew right out of her hand and embedded itself upright into the floor. _

_Getting up, Alice looked at Isaacs and the cuts in his chest she'd created. Only now, though, the wound seemed to heal rapidly. Isaacs looked up from his chest._

_"You can't kill me", he said, smiling mischievously._

_Alice saw the blade sticking out of the wooden floor. This was her chance to kill the son of a bitch that standing in front of her. _

_But as soon as she began to lunge for the pointy blade, Isaacs quickly wrapped his tentacles, that were coming out of his arm, around her throat, intending to strangle her to death. Alice caught sight of the Kukri-blade, which was just in reach. If she could just grab the hilt..._

_However, the harder Alice tried to reach for the blade, the stronger Isaacs' grip around her neck got. Slowly but surely, 2 tentacles with pointy ends raised up to Alice's temples. Now, she tried even harder to reach for the weapon. She couldn't just lose this fight. Not after L.J., and then Carlos died. She just had to try for them, especially for Carlos. But the tentacles only wrapped itselves tighter around her throat, rendering her almost unconscious. As hard as she could, she tried to reach for the blade one last time. _

_Then suddenly, the pointy tentacles thrusted their way into Alice's head, killing her instantly. The world around her all of a sudden went to black._

* * *

Alice's eyes opened quickly. Immediately, she looked around, only to realise she was just having a nightmare. A nightmare that felt very real to her. And that was only because the fight in her dream seemed to be less than 2 hours ago. It was like her memories coincided with her dream or something. However, she couldn't be bothered by it, as she was, in fact, still alive.

Sighing, Alice noticed that she was lying underneath a metal storage case, which had fallen down on top of her.

She tried to remember what had happened to her. Alice recalled her being in the lab where the White Queen had just disappeared. She was feeling like being trapped inside that lab, especially since all doors seemed to be closed off. The next thing was that the room began to shake and rumble, like a huge earthquake had decided to take place there. Panels from the ceiling came falling down and the metal cases that were standing in the room were beginning to tip over. The lights were flashing heavily and all equipment got destroyed.

Alice remembered needing a place to hide. But unfortunately, a metal storage case, which was filled with empty test tubes, fell down on her. Glass shattered on her face, creating cuts everywhere.

In the time Alice had been unconscious, the blood on her face had dried up. However, the lab was destroyed, enabling her from creating a cure from her blood. Alice sighed again. Umbrella certainly made sure there wasn't any hope left for humanity.

"Bastards", she cursed, convinced Umbrella was the cause for the destruction of the lab.

Umbrella seemed to have a good reason to destroy the lab, mostly to maintain their control of things. Now they could create a cure on their own, without any interference from the outside. This was only unfortunate for Alice, since she hoped to stop the infection from destroying the world even further. But now, all hope seemed gone.

Alice tried to lift the dead weight of the case off of her, hoping to flip the thing on its side. But the metal thing was quite heavy and it seemed almost impossible for her to lift it up. But after a few tries, she succeeded nonetheless.

After the metal case was on its side, Alice stood up and looked around at the mess the lab had become. She peered at the other side, where the door was to the hydraulic elevator. Luckily for her, Umbrella seemed to have forgotten to close that one off.

"They're not done with me yet", Alice said through her teeth as she began to make her way through the lab.

Arriving at the elevator, Alice was surprised the thing didn't have any piece of rubble on it. She'd expected it to be inoperable by the destruction of the lab. But now that this was not the case, it meant that she could take the elevator, saving her the trouble of climbing all the way up to the surface.

Alice smiled at this opportunity. It seemed like this was the only good thing that had happened to her in a long time. She only hoped the zombies up there were gone. Or else she'd have another problem to solve, simply because she didn't want to be killed.

As she was being taken to the surface, Alice heard gunshots. Apparently, someone was doing target practice. She figured the targets to be zombies as there seemed to be no other things people were happy to shoot at. To her, it seemed like she couldn't have gotten luckier today. Someone was cleaning up the zombies for her and she didn't have to do or say anything about it.

The bright sunlight hit her face as the elevator came to a stop. Shielding her eyes from the sun, Alice looked around to find out where the shooting was coming from. Dead zombies were lying all around her. It looked like a bloodbath had taken place.

Suddenly, Alice noticed that a man with short dark hair, a stubble and a muscular build was aiming his shotgun at no other person than her. For a second, she thought it was Carlos. But then she saw it was someone else. It seemed like this man was mistaking her for a zombie and he was ready to shoot 'it'.

A loud bang sounded as the man shot at Alice. With an amazing speed, Alice saw the bullet coming straight at her, seemingly even faster than the speed of light. As soon as she heard the bang, Alice focused all of her strength. With all the power she had, she centered all her attention on stopping the bullet before it would hit her head.

All of a sudden, the bullet stopped in mid-air. It appeared like there was an invisible wall keeping the bullet from hitting Alice's forehead. The man looked up from his shotgun, confused. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. But it happened nonetheless to his great confusion.

Alice was looking at the bullet that was still flowing just inches from her forehead. Her psychic powers had kept the metal projectile from hitting her. As she released her powers, the bullet fell to the floor. And simultaneous with the bullet, she, too, fell to the floor. She felt exhausted from the use of her abilities, which really took a lot from her energy and she could feel it.

As soon as Alice collapsed, the man with the shotgun ran up to her. Upon arrival, he raised his shotgun and aimed it once more at her.

"Who are you?" the man asked, his deep voice sounding like thunder, thinking this woman was a threat.

"I'm Alice", Alice answered under her breath, "And who might you be?"

"I'm asking the questions here", the man firmly said, "How did you stop that bullet?"

"I don't know", Alice continued to answer, "They did something to me."

The man looked up from his gun. This woman only seemed to be acting out of self-defense. There was no harm done about that. It only seemed fair that she fended for herself, just like everybody else. And the fact that someone did something to her that made her do the extraordinary things she just did, made him suddenly feel compassionate and sympathetic for her.

He figured this woman just couldn't help having the powers she had. It was someone else's fault this happened to her. But who would be so cruel to alter someone's body, or someone's life for that matter? Guess he had to find that out in a friendly manner, instead of the harsh way. That would be the only way to get the information he needed. So he crouched down and looked at her deep blue eyes.

Alice looked back into this man's brown eyes. She didn't know what to expect from him. For all she knew, he would just shoot her for being a freak. That's what most people tended to do anyway when seeing her powers. She'd just be a threat to them.

"I'm Chris. Chris Redfield", he introduced himself all of a sudden in a calm voice, holding out his hand.

Alice looked at Chris with a questioning stare. Why was this man suddenly so friendly? They only barely met. What made him from tough and demanding to friendly and considerate? And more important, could he be trusted? It had only been a few minutes since he shot a bullet straight at her head. Not exactly a great way of making friends.

Alice looked at his eyes. She'd always learned that she could judge someone by the look in their eyes, so she also did this with this guy to know whether or not she could trust him. In this case, his eyes showed sincerity. However, she still wasn't entirely sure about this guy, so she estimated she just had to take a leap of faith with him.

Taking Chris' hand, Alice let him help getting herself on her feet again.

"I'm sorry I shot you", Chris apologized, "I thought you were one of them."

"It's okay", Alice said. She was already used to the idea that everywhere she went, people were forced to shoot each other. So this was no difference.

To Alice, this guy certainly seemed friendly, even though he'd aimed his shotgun and shot a bullet at her just minutes ago. Somehow, though, she got the strange feeling that she could trust him. And those feelings came very rarely when meeting a man. It almost reminded her of Carlos and the moment they'd met each other for the first time. Not that she was ready to forget him. No way she would ever forget about Carlos. But this Chris seemed like a trustworthy person to her.

"Redfield. From Claire Redfield?" Alice asked after she had gotten on her feet again.

"You know her?" Chris asked.

"I met her two days ago", Alice answered, "Why?"

"Because I'm her brother", Chris answered.

"Small world", Alice said. They both chuckled at that.

Now that Alice had a closer look at Chris, she certainly recognized some features that reminded her of Claire. Just like his sister, he too had the same expression in his eyes, like he could take on anything. They both shared the same toughness. He seemed to know just what to do to survive in this infected world, just like his sister did. And the both of them were excellent shots.

"So, where is she?" Chris asked.

"Alaska", Alice answered.

"What's there?" Chris continued to ask, since all the knew was that the whole world was infected, Alaska included.

Instead of answering Chris' question, Alice looked around. Although Chris had gotten rid of most of the zombies, there still were a few left and they were coming towards them. And since they were still standing there, it seemed like a good plan to get moving.

That's when she saw Chris' jeep, parked just a few feet from where they were standing. This was their ticket out of this place, so it was best to grab that chance.

"I'll explain to you in the car", Alice said.

Chris agreed on Alice's plan as he didn't want to end up as zombie food. So he turned around and together, they ran towards the jeep, intending to get away from there.

* * *

**Author's note: Someone major will die in one of the following chapters. Just wait and see who it is. Also, do you like where the story is going? Please leave a review and let me know what you think.**


	8. Status Updated

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

_Carlos, Jill, L.J. and Angie were in a forest. L.J. and Angie were standing by a dark red BMW, while Jill and Carlos were standing a few feet away from them, discussing things they didn't want the rest of the group to hear about. But they all were aware of what had happened._

_It was just one and a half week ago that they escaped Raccoon City with a helicopter, only to crash down in the Arklay Forest. And it was only fortunate that they had parachutes, so that they'd get out of the crashing aircraft on time. But as soon as they landed safely, they all were remorseful for leaving Alice behind. After all, she was the one that got them out of the infected city to begin with. So they decided to check out the wreckage of the helicopter the following day to see if Alice had survived the crash. Or at least to give her a proper funeral._

_Arriving at the crash site, they discovered that the place was buzzing with Umbrella staff. So they hid themselves behind some bushes, observing what was going on without being detected by security. _

_Jill was wondering what the hell all those Umbrella people were doing there. Then she saw Dr. Isaacs walking towards a rock near the base of the waterfall where the helicopter had crashed. The helicopter itself was pretty much messed up, as it had crashed on some rocks. At the place Dr. Isaacs was walking to, there seemed to be a tarp covering a dead human body. Stopping at the body, Isaacs crouched down and removed a part of the tarp, revealing the face of the person that was lying underneath it. Jill was shocked to find out that the person under the tarp was none other than Alice herself. _

_Jill immediately figured out that Umbrella was planning on experimenting on Alice again, altering her even more. Why else would they be there? The rest of the group was shocked too. None of them had any idea of what to do next. They had to save Alice from those horrible experiments, but how?_

_"Fetch the medical team", Isaacs said to a tidy dressed woman near him. _

_"What about the others?" he asked, as the woman walked away. _

_"No other bodies found, sir", one of the security guards said. _

_Suddenly, Jill felt a hand on her shoulder. Fearing it would be one of Umbrella's guards, she quickly turned around. However, she found out that Carlos was standing behind her, giving her the scare of her life._

_"Come on, we have to get out of here", he said. Jill sighed, nodded and followed the rest of the group away from the scene._

_That was just a week and a half ago. After they had left the forest, they stole a dark red BMW and drove to the nearest city. There, they put their video of the incident in Raccoon City on the internet, hoping Umbrella was going to be brought down. _

_But that never happened. Instead, they were accused of causing a hoax, which led to Carlos and Jill being sought for questioning by the police. _

_However, that was all that had happened in the past. Now, Jill and Carlos were aguing about their plans to save Alice, as the situation was not at its best right now. _

_"What do you mean with 'we can't get Alice back'?" Jill shouted._

_"It means 'we can't get her back, cause we're wanted'", Carlos shouted back, having realised their plan of saving Alice was never going to work now. There was too much at stake._

_"And that's going to stop us?" Jill asked. _

_Jill had always been an optimist. Even though they were screwed in Raccoon City, she always believed they were going to get out of that city, no matter how. And now a bunch of policemen were going to stop them? No way in hell! She'll find a way to save Alice, even if they had to be Umbrella agents themselves. _

_"Umbrella agents", Jill thought, "Maybe that could work."_

_"Yeah, Alice is on her own", Carlos said, still being the pessimist. Even though he had feelings for Alice, it just seemed impossible to save her from Umbrella's claws. They just were to tightly secured for them to break into their system and save their precious experiment. There was just no way they would ever let that happen._

_Carlos was about to walk away, when he got stopped by Jill. _

_Jill looked at Angie, then back at Carlos. "Listen, I promised that little girl over there that I'm gonna get Alice back, no matter what."_

_Whatever she was called after she got suspended back in Raccoon City, Jill Valentine had always been a woman of her word. No matter what she'd promise to someone, she was planning to keep that certain promise, even if it seemed impossible to hold on to it. Back in the helicopter, she made a promise to Angie that they were going to pick Alice up. Jill just felt the need to keep that promise, or else she'd just feel guilty for not doing what she'd promised to do. _

_Carlos sighed. "And how are you gonna do that?"_

_"By infiltrating them", Jill smirked._

_"Infiltrating who?" Carlos asked._

_"Umbrella, of course", Jill said nonchalantly._

_Carlos' eyes widened. Had Jill gotten totally crazy? No way they would be able to infiltrate Umbrella, especially since they still got the police on their asses. It would not only be impossible, but dangerous too. _

_"Are you nuts?" Carlos spat, "They're the ones that caused all this in the first place!"_

_"So what? Are you in or out?" Jill said determined._

_"I don't know", Carlos said, still doubting Jills' plan. _

_Even if they'd manage to infiltrate Umbrella, there still would've been a million other things to worry about. What if their supposed 'colleagues' found out they were wanted? What then? They'd be walking right into the lion's den without even knowing it, which was why Carlos was heavily doubting Jill's plan. _

_"Come on. She's the one that saved all of us", Jill encouraged him, "And besides, it'll be a piece of cake."_

_"What do you mean?" Carlos asked confused._

_Jill began to walk away, eyeing Carlos out of the corner of her eye. "You just watch me", she said, not revealing her plan yet._

* * *

Jill was lying on the metal operation table in the white room again. Her eyes were closed as she was still unconscious from being knocked out by the man in the hazmat suit. The IV's had been removed from the room, enabling her to escape again.

Meanwhile, in another part of the facility, Birkin was sitting behind an old brown desk in a white room, talking to Wesker via his computer. It had been 3 days since Wesker left the Tokyo-facility, so they had to electronically contact each other once a week.

Several paintings were hanging on the walls in the office, some of them with landscapes, some of them with Birkin himself, dressed like a graduating student and holding a certicate in his hands. Numerous papers were lying around on Birkin's desk, accompanied by a desk lamp, a few pens and a vial, which was lying next to his computer screen. The desk itself was standing on a brownish carpet, surrounded by a few plants in pots, a copy machine and more office equipment. The vial next to his computer held a double helix, filled with a purple substance.

"Is Project 14 proceeding as planned?" Wesker asked.

"Yes, sir. She woke up yesterday", Birkin answered.

"Any progress?" Wesker continued to ask.

"She tried to escape, but we've contained her, sir", Birkin answered, having had this information from security.

It wasn't the first time an experiment tried to escape quarantine. There had been several occasions before. But it was never seriously dangerous. Umbrella's security forces made sure of that.

"That can't happen again. Increase security. We can't have another pandemic on our hands", Wesker said worried, since Umbrella already caused a pandemic by releasing the T-virus into the world. Umbrella even dressed their security units with hazmat suits, just in case a virus was contagious.

For a moment, Birkin was confused. Surely, Wesker knew there was just no way another pandemic was about to start? He himself was the one in the beginning to orchestrate the whole security system for Umbrella, so why was he panicking about such a little security breach? Birkin figured it must've been paranoia, because normally, Wesker had been a very calm and relaxed man about these sorts of situations.

"Already taken care of, sir", Birkin replied.

"I'll contact you in a week, then", Wesker disconnected his screen.

Birkin put his computer on another screen and picked up the vial from the desk. He looked at it, almost as if he was in love with it. At last in his life, he had total control of something he himself had created instead of taking commands from someone else, which got really tiring after some time.

"My precious G-Virus. No one will ever take you away from me", Birkin said, a satisfied smile on his face.

After he'd gotten enough of looking at the vial, Birkin laid it in a drawer of his desk, which was full of vials. Next, he closed the drawer and watched the screen of his computer again, which showed coverage of a security tape featuring Jill escaping from the Detroit-facility with Alice, Carlos, L.J. and Angie. Birkin looked confident about himself and smiled.

Finally in his carreer, William Birkin was put in charge of one of Umbrella's projects. And it felt very good.

* * *

**Author's note: As you've probably noticed, I've put a little bit from the games into this chapter. Throughout this story, you'll find more references from the games, so wait and see whether you can spot them. Please read and review. **


	9. Old Wounds

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

It was already night when K-Mart was still walking alone through the forest. It had been a few hours since the attack of the wolves and all that time, K-Mart hadn't encountered anyone from the group, not even one of the kids. She was beginning to think that all of them had been slaughtered by those horrible undead animals they'd encountered earlier, which she hated so badly. In fact, she hated everything in the world since the undead took over. She still clearly remembered how it all began for her. It all began with a bang on the door.

* * *

_As she heard the banging on the door, Dahlia began to fear that they were never going to get out of the house. This house in Los Angeles she and her parents had been living in for more than a decade. _

_2 months ago, they heard the terrifying news that Raccoon City had been nuked to prevent a virus from escaping. But nonetheless, it did escape and had spread across the United States like a plague. An inevitable plague, which struck every person infected with it. The news reported that the Umbrella Corporation was trying to develop a cure for it, but Dahlia knew better. Once you'd been contaminated with this virus, there was no escaping from a horrible fate. A fate she and her parents were trying to avoid as the virus had arrived in the city they were living in. _

_Loud bangs were coming from the door and Dahlia knew exactly who these people on the other side were. She called them the undead, after several news reports of people dying and being resurrected again. Suddenly, there was a voice coming from the other room._

_"Dahlia, please hurry before they catch us", her father shouted worrisome._

_Dahlia always had trouble keeping up with the changes in her life. Everything from making new friends to applying to the school's cheerleading squad, it was just hard for her to adjust to. This was also the case now, as her mother and father wanted to leave the house behind where they'd lived in for the last decade. She just didn't want to go away from this place she'd been accustomed to her whole life. But all of a sudden, she got grabbed by the hand. She turned around and looked directly into the eyes of her mother._

_"Please, Dahlia", her mother shouted over the noise._

_Dahlia realised they had no other choice but to leave and nodded. Together, they ran towards the back door, where her father was standing with a gun in his hand. She just had no choice than to leave everything that was so dear to her behind. They didn't even have time to pack their belongings before leaving, or else they'd be attacked by those things outside. Next thing they did, was heading towards the outer limits of the city, where most uninfected people were going. The back door slammed shut behind them. _

_However, the plan of getting out of the city got interrupted when they were trapped in a narrow alley by 4 of the undead. Dahlia was fearing for her life, as the zombies were closing in on them. Being just a 12 year old girl, she hid behind her parents from the horrible creatures that were surrounding them. _

_"Mommy, I'm scared", she said._

_"I know, honey", her mother replied, fear in her voice as she was watching the undead closing in on them. _

_Her father was aiming his gun at them, but he hesitated to shoot. He wouldn't just kill these monsters that were once living human beings. He just wouldn't. But he had no other choice. If he didn't shoot them, they'd be turning him and his family into one of their own. A destiny he didn't want to put his family through. There was just no way they'd be getting out of the alley without shooting and killing at least one of them. _

_Just as the tables seemed to be turned against them, her father got an idea. If he didn't get the chance to survive this, then he at least had to give Dahlia this opportunity. He turned to look at his daughter._

_"Dahlia, please listen to me", he began to say._

_Dahlia turned her face towards her father's and knew immediately that he wanted her to do something important. _

_"I want you to run out of here as soon as I tell you to", her father instructed._

_Dahlia blinked. Did she truly hear her father telling her to run away from him and her mom? What kind of stupid plan was that? It just didn't make any sense. They needed to stick together as a family, not fight for themselves. Hence the reason why she didn't want to leave her parents behind._

_"No", Dahlia said, "Not if you're not coming with me."_

_"Dammit, Dahlia", her father said, "Just do as you're told."_

_"I don't want to leave you behind", Dahlia began to cry._

_"Dahlia, please listen to your father", her mother began to speak._

_"No", Dahlia firmly said, tears in her eyes. _

_Dahlia just didn't want to leave her parents behind with these monsters. Not in this hellhole. Even if there was a tiny chance of them getting out of this alive, they had to take it. They just had to survive this. If she'd left her parents, there would be no telling what'd happen to them. For all she knew, they'd be killed the minute she'd run away. That's why she was afraid. Afraid of never seeing her parents ever again. So she just wanted to stay by them._

_"We'll be fine, honey", her mother continued, "Just trust us."_

_Dahlia looked back and forth between her mother and father, unable to make up her mind. If she left them behind, they'd probably be eaten alive. She wanted to trust them so badly, but she just couldn't bear to lose them once she'd be gone. She just couldn't live with that. She was angry at her parents for leaving her no choice, but she loved them at the same time for thinking about her safety first. She wasn't sure what to do, but in the end she made a choice. Nodding and with tears streaming down her face, she looked at her parents._

_"Okay, I'll do it", Dahlia said, "But I'll be back. I promise."_

_Dahlia still didn't want to run away, but she also saw that her parents left her no choice. According to them, she needed to run away in order for herself to survive and she loved them for it. But to sacrifice themselves for her, she didn't understand. Why did they only want her to make it through this? Didn't they understand that she wouldn't be able to go through this without them? However, she'd already said that she'd do it, so she was planning to stick by her word._

_Relieved at her answer, Dahlia's father turned to face the undead that were still closing in on them and aimed his gun at one of these monsters, still a little hesitating to shoot. _

_"As soon as I shoot one of them, you run", her father instructed, "Okay?"_

_Dahlia nodded and prepared to run out of the alley. She still wasn't sure if this was the right move on her part. But eventually, she had to think about herself and her safety first. Besides, she could always go back to this alley to safe them, even though she thought those chances were pretty slim._

_Suddenly, there was a gunshot and one of the undead fell down to the ground, a bullet hole being pierced through it's head. _

_Immediately, K-Mart took off towards the exit of the alley, running like her feet were on fire. As she was reaching the street, she could hear the screams of her parents behind her. With tears rolling down her cheeks, she could hear the sounds of the undead feasting on her parents' flesh. But she didn't dare to look back. She just didn't have the strength to watch how her parents were being killed by those horrible creatures. All of her hopes and dreams seemed gone with the sounds of moaning monsters fading into the distance. So she just ran away from the scene as hard as she could, barely able to catch her breath._

_As she ran out into the streets of Los Angeles, she kept crying. But she didn't have the courage to return. She didn't want to face the undead monsters that killed her parents. She just wanted to block that image out of her mind._

_A few minutes later, she arrived at a nearby K-Mart store. Entering the store, she collapsed on her knees. Tears were flowing down her cheeks as she was crying for the loss of her parents. She felt selfish for abandoning her parents so easily. If she'd just handled things differently, then her parents would've been just fine. If the infection hadn't reached Los Angeles, they would've been just find._

_But now she was all left alone. Now, she had no one to talk to or have fun with. She didn't even have someone to comfort her in her time of need right now. She was all left alone in this ruined world where humans became undead, destroying the lives of families every day. She was all left alone, left to fight for her own. Left to survive for her own. And left to find a safe haven for her own. That's why she hated this world so much._

* * *

Left alone, or rather left behind was the feeling that K-Mart had when she was staggering in the woods through the snow, looking for Claire and the kids. Every once in a while, she shouted for them, hoping to get an answer back.

"Claire!" K-Mart shouted, but the answer remained quiet. All she could hear was her own voice, echoing through the woods.

K-Mart didn't even care that the snow was drenching her shoes. All she cared about, was reuniting with Claire and the kids. That was what she wanted the most right now.

After a while, K-Mart decided to take a break by sitting on a log, where she took a look at the leg that was bitten by a wolf earlier. She sighed in relief as it fortunately had stopped bleeding. All that was left was a deep wound, caused by the wolf that had bitten her. Dried blood and bruises were surrounding the wound, looking like something out of a horror movie. She'd also noticed about herself that she was beginning to sweat alot, even though the weather was freezing cold.

However, she now only wanted to focus on the wound. As she wanted to clean it, she tore her panty apart and grabbed a handful of snow. While rubbing the cold substance against her leg, she hoped the snow would cease the pain. She winced as the snow made the wound sting.

K-Mart was afraid she'd become one of the undead, now that she was bitten. Her heart was pounding loudly by the thought of it. Another reason to hate the world, because there was a big chance to become a zombie yourself if you weren't careful enough. She'd heard many stories of people becoming infected and turning into the undead. She even got to witness it after L.J. turned and tried to bite her. Never before had she foreseen herself being bitten. Because if she did, then she would've been more careful. But now she was fully delievered to the spread of the T-Virus within her body.

Looking up from her leg, K-Mart observed the area. All that she could see were trees and snow.

Suddenly, she saw someone lying forward in the snow, a few miles away from her. Relieved, K-Mart was happy that she saw a human after a long time of loneliness, but she was at the same time worried that the person in the snow didn't seem to move.

Quickly, K-Mart rushed over to the person and noticed that the person was a woman with dark auburn hair. One of the woman's legs was cought in a beartrap and she was wearing shredded clothes, showing several bite marks through her clothes and all over her body. Kneeling next to the woman, K-Mart released the woman from the sharp jaws of the beartrap and turned her on her back.

However, as soon as she had done this, tears shot in K-Mart's shocked eyes. And that was only because she hadn't expected this person to be who it had turned out to be.

Lying dead in the snow was Claire.

K-Mart couldn't believe her eyes at first. No way this dead person could actually be Claire Redfield, the woman she'd looked up to the most. No way this woman would be the strong, independent and caring Claire she'd come to know over a period of 3 years.

But upon closer inspection, K-Mart came to realise that lying dead before her was indeed Claire Redfield. She was still wearing the same clothes as before, only this time there were multiple holes torn through the fabric, showing several open wounds on her skin. Clearly a sign she'd been bitten by the wolves they'd encountered earlier. The journal, which had been tucked into her coat pocket, was now lying in the snow next to Claire.

Crying, K-Mart slowly put her hands on Claire's cheeks. They were feeling cold, making K-Mart realise that Claire's death would've been at least a couple of hours ago.

"No!" K-Mart screamed to the open sky, tears rolling down her cheeks. She didn't even care whether or not she attracted wolves to her. All she cared about was releasing her emotions right now.

K-Mart felt like the emotions she had as a kid after losing her parents came flooding back to her. Even after 5 years of losing people all around her, it still felt horrible to lose the person she was the closest to.

K-Mart had been living in Claire's convoy ever since she was 14 years old. In the 3 years after that, she just didn't know any better than to trust Claire and let her lead. It felt like Claire was some sort of mother figure to her and the rest of the convoy, even to a point where it felt like Claire nearly had replaced her actual parents. From K-Mart's point of view, Claire was a no nonsense woman who was born to be a leader. It seemed like nothing could stop her from doing her job, not even death.

But now the one person she looked up to, the one person she trusted the most was lying in the snow in front of her. Bitten to death by horrible creatures. Without Claire, there was no safety and happiness. The only things that were left over, were loneliness and coldness.

"No Claire no", K-Mart sobbed as she looked beaten at her.

Claire still had her eyes wide open. So K-Mart put her fingers on Claire's eyes, closing them. She shivered and cried and laid down her body onto Claire's body, saying goodbye. She didn't even care that she was touching a corpse. She just wanted to say goodbye to the great person that was once Claire Redfield.

After a while, K-Mart suddenly looked up from Claire's body, hearing some wolves howl. Those horrible creatures were still around and out to find a prey. But that didn't stop her from staying with Claire for some more time. She just didn't feel like leaving her on the cold ground and wandering off to find some help. No way she'd leave Claire behind like this. She didn't deserve what's been done to her or what she'd been through in the last moment of her life. No one deserved all of this.

But after a few more minutes, K-Mart became cold herself. It felt like she couldn't move a muscle. So she picked up the journal from the ground and stood up from her position on the ground, even though she wanted to stay with Claire for ever. She just didn't want to say goodbye, but she had to move on for her muscles to get warm again. So she just had to.

K-Mart looked down at Claire for the last time with tears in her eyes, grieving for the loss of one of her best friends and one of the greatest persons she'd grown to know over the past couple of years.

"It was good to know you, Claire Redfield", K-Mart said as a last goodbye, wiping a tear from her face.

After that, she walked past Claire's body, looking at her. It still felt to her like she couldn't say goodbye to Claire. But eventually, she looked ahead, wandering into the woods again and putting the journal into one of her pants pockets.

After K-Mart had walked a couple of feet away from Claire's body, Claire suddenly opened her eyes again, having a strange milky look in them.

* * *

**Author's note: I know some of you are big fans of Claire and I personally also wanted her to remain alive. But keeping all of the characters alive until the end is not what I want to achieve by writing this story. As a writer, I want to learn how to take certain risks with my story. And if that means killing off one of the main characters, I'm willing to do just that. So I'm sorry for killing off Claire Redfield, but it's just the way this story goes. I, however, promise you her death won't go in vain. There'll be much more to her death than meets the eye. **

**I also want to know what you think about Claire's sudden death. Do you think I've properly finished her story or did you want to see more of her? Please let me know in your reviews and comments.**


	10. Partners

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

To Chris Redfield, the next step was clear. He was going to find his sister, no matter what. After Alice had told him everything there was to know, he knew exactly where to find Claire and bring her home. Alaska was the place he'd find her, so Alaska was the way to go.

Driving his Wrangler Golden Eagle through the sandy dunes of the desert, a sleeping Alice was in the seat next to him. The jeep itself was as rusty as shit, still it drove just perfectly fine. In the trunk and on the back seat were various guns and rifles, 2 medical aid kits and lots of food, which was all Chris needed to have to survive in this world.

Chris looked to his left and saw Alice sleeping. He smiled a little at her being asleep and turned his attention back to the road. Meanwhile, Alice was dreaming about Carlos.

* * *

_"Good thing we like a challenge", Alice said as she was watching through binoculars at the hundreds of zombies that were pushing against the fence that surrounded Umbrella's facility in the Nevada Desert._

_She, K-Mart, Claire and Carlos were all lying forward on some rocks looking out on the facility and the massive population of zombies surrounding it. From the zombies, Alice shifted her view to the Umbrella-helicopter that was parked within the confines of the fence. Although it seemed hard to get to the aircraft, the price was certainly worth it._

_Suddenly, Carlos, who was lying next to Alice, began caughing up blood after having become infected with the T-Virus._

_"Hold on", Alice said, putting her hand on Carlos' shoulder, "They have the Anti-Virus in there. Just hold on."_

_"It's too late and you know it", Carlos said, turning his face towards Alice and putting his hand on hers. _

_Alice looked down, realising that Carlos was right. They would never be on time to recover the Anti-Virus and inject him with it before he was going to turn into a zombie. Even if they'd manage to surpass the zombies, they'd still have the trouble of breaking into the underground facility. And although it took L.J. days to turn, this possibly wouldn't be the same for Carlos. He would've been just fine if L.J. hadn't bitten him, but now it was just too late. He was going to turn into a zombie and there was nothing she could do about it. _

_"Besides, you need a way to get in there", Carlos said, "And I have an idea." _

_Alice looked into Carlos' eyes, knowing exactly what his plan was. He wouldn't just surrender himself to the virus, not without a fight. He was too stubborn to lose a fight like that. So fighting was exactly what Carlos Oliveira had in mind. _

_From a distance, Alice saw Carlos saying goodbye to Claire and K-Mart. She could clearly notice that it was hard for him to say farewell to the people he'd been hanging around with for the past few years. It seemed like he considered them as some sort of second family and Alice couldn't blame him. _

_First, Carlos hugged a crying K-Mart. For a seventeen year old girl, she seemed pretty tough for a girl her age. And with the right training and survival skills, Alice thought she'd make one hell of a woman. Next, Carlos shook hands with Claire Redfield, a woman whose toughness and intellect were something Alice considered rather amazing. Even when saying goodbye to someone she'd been around with for years, Claire just stayed her cool and tough self. She didn't even shed a single tear._

_After he said his heartbreaking goodbyes and K-Mart had dug her face into Claire's shoulder to cry her heart out, Carlos walked over to Alice, who was standing by his truck. The same truck that he was going to use to put his plan into motion. _

_Carlos looked up to the truck, realising that this was the last vehicle he was to drive in. This truck that had been providing the convoy with just enough fuel to keep them moving through the desert. The explosives in the cabin and the fuel that was left over, if combined together, would cause quite an explosion. A blast big enough to clear the way for the rest of the convoy to drive through the zombie horde. _

_Carlos turned his attention to Alice. Alice looked back, unable to say anything. For the first time in a long time, she was speachless._

_"Carlos, I...', Alice mumbled and looked down, but Carlos cut her off. _

_"Save it", he interrupted. _

_Alice looked back up and gave a little nod. This wasn't the best time to profess her love for him. Besides, Carlos already knew Alice had feelings for him. He didn't need confirmation of that fact. _

_"Just promise me one thing", Carlos said, "When you get down there..." _

_Alice didn't need to hear the rest. She already knew what her mission was. _

_"Consider it done", she replied._

_Then, they both hugged. Alice held Carlos firmly, not wanting to let him go. After so many years, they finally saw each other again, only to lose each other. _

_It just felt unfair to her. Why were the good guys always the ones to go? Why can't they just live on forever? This man she loved so much was the only man she ever had feelings for. No other man came as close as Carlos had come to her. _

_Alice just felt the need to clung unto Carlos, because it would be the last time they'd see each other. The last time she'd hug the one person she cared for the most. _

_Carlos didn't want to let go of Alice either. Out of all the beautiful women he'd met in his life, Alice was the only one that really stood out to him. Not only was she beautiful from the outside, but she was also loving and caring towards the ones around her. This made her special in his book, especially since the world she lived in was filled with fear and danger. That he cared for her was not only because of her personality or looks, but also because she was as tough as a nail and able to kick some serious ass. These sorts of traits were what made Alice a great partner and friend to have._

_But Carlos also realised that this moment wasn't going to last forever. So after he pulled back a little, he looked into her bright green eyes while she looked back into his darkbrown eyes. Then, as if in slow motion, they leaned in towards each other. They kept looking into each other's eyes as their lips touched in a kiss that had been delayed for far too long, a spark of energy flowing from one person to the other._

_Chills were running up Alice's spine, all the way up to her neck. Carlos felt the same. Alice's lips tasted like strawberries, even though she'd been in the desert for quite some time. To Alice, Carlos' lips were surprisingly soft. She'd expected them to be rough from the harsh weather he'd been traveling in. But even though she was surprised at the softness of Carlos' lips, she wanted to make this moment last forever. _

_Alice just wanted to always be with Carlos. But then she wouldn't acknowledge the fact that he was still infected with the T-Virus. So she wanted to make this kiss last forever, as it would be their last intimate moment together. After such a long time without him, Alice really tried to make the best of it. After all, it would be the last time they'd ever see each other._

_As their kiss broke apart, their foreheads leaned against each other. They both needed a little time to adjust to the intimate moment they just shared together. _

_But after a few seconds, Carlos backed away from Alice and began to climb into the truck. She gazed after him, catching the last possible sight she'd ever have of him. This moment made her finally realize that their last kiss was merely meant as a last goodbye. A last goodbye to the most valuable and best friend she'd ever had. She almost cried as he closed the door behind him. _

_Driving the Hummer next to Carlos' truck, Alice took one last look at Carlos before he was going to die. Carlos looked back, trying to assure her his plan was going to work. Then he nodded for her to slow down and let him go in front. _

_Watching as Carlos' truck squashed zombies by the dozen, tears formed in Alice's eyes. The big love of her life was going to die soon, and there was nothing she could do about it now. She just had to let it all happen. _

_Claire, who was sitting next to Alice, tried to comfort her by putting her hand on her shoulder._

_Suddenly, Carlos' truck flipped over, causing Alice to watch in fear. Several zombies were trying to climb into the cabin of the truck. But just as they were beginning to get inside the cabin, the truck unexpectedly exploded. blowing up the undead around it. Bright flames burst out of the truck's tank and cabin. _

_With this explosion, Alice felt like the world was over as she knew for certain that she'd never see her Carlos ever again. She lost the man of her dreams, right there and right now. With the bright burning flames engulfing the truck, she just knew for certain that her time with Carlos was over. And she wasn't going to get that time back. Not ever._

* * *

"Carlos!"

Alice suddenly woke up from her nightmare with a jolt, frantically looking around her. But as she saw Chris sitting next to her, she slowly realised she was still sitting in his jeep. Sighs escape from her mouth as she slumped back into her seat.

"Who's Carlos?" Chris asked.

"Someone I used to know", Alice answered.

"Must've been one hell of a someone", Chris said.

"Yeah", Alice said, her thoughts drifting off to Carlos.

Alice still wasn't used to the fact that Carlos was gone. But now that she was back to reality, there was no escaping the fact that he was dead. There was no way Carlos would be brought back to life, even though that would be wish number 1 on her wishlist. So she just had to accept the fact that Carlos was dead, regardless of the fact that she didn't want to.

In fact, despite losing everything she could've used to beat Umbrella and the woldwide infection with, she just had to move on. There simply was no turning back anymore, so she just had to accept this new start and leave every bad thing from her past behind, whether she liked it or not.

After a while, Alice turned her face towards Chris. "So what's the plan?" she asked.

"What plan?" Chris asked back.

"Well, for a start, we need to find a way for us to get to Alaska", Alice said.

Of course Alice still wanted revenge on Umbrella, but finding a place where she'd be safe for the years to come, and possibly even forever, was way more important to her than getting even. She'd figure a way to go to Tokyo after they'd gotten into Alaska and know that everything is safe. And despite not trusting Chris yet, she thought it would be nice for him and Claire to be reunited. So Alice definitely wanted to go to Alaska with him.

"I thought you wanted to go to Tokyo?" Chris asked.

"I do", Alice commented, "But first I want to get you and your sister reunited. So how about it?"

"Don't worry about it", Chris said nonchalantly.

"Why not?" Alice asked curiously.

"Just trust me", Chris said.

As he was saying this, they were just driving past a decayed road sign, saying 'San Diego, 20 miles'.

* * *

**Author's note: For this chapter, I just wanted to throw in some Alice/Carlos romance. I did this not only for the Alicar-fans, but also to get the message of Alice dealing with her losses and moving on across. Either way, I'm hoping that I wrote this chapter well enough for you to comment and leave a review, because it'll be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.**


	11. Left Behind

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

_2 police cars were chasing 2 passenger cars at night. In one of the passenger cars, a black SUV, were Carlos and L.J.. In the other, a dark red BMW, were Jill and Angie. __It had been 1½ months since they infiltrated Umbrella. _

_Since they were wanted, infiltrating the evil corporation was a hard job to be done. But they'd succeeded nontheless. Next thing they'd done, was figuring out where Alice was being held. With the help of Angie, who, surprisingly, was really into computers, they'd hacked into Umbrella's security system and found out Alice was at the Detroit facility. So they drove their SUV over there, just in time to see Alice being surrounded by a squad of Umbrella operatives, who were pointing their machine guns at her. _

_Since Alice seemed to only be wearing a labcoat, and therefore was defenseless, Jill had to act quickly. So she stepped out of the car and approached the head commander of the squad. _

_"Thank you, gentlemen", Jill said, "We'll take over from here."_

_"On whose authority?" the head commander asked as he didn't know about any orders taking Program Alice elsewhere. _

_"Classified", Carlos said as he also approached the head commander, handing him a piece of paper, "Level 6 authorization."_

_The head commander looked at the piece of paper. Everything seemed alright, so there wasn't any reason to hold Project Alice at gunpoint anymore. _

_"Sorry, sir", he apologized and motioned the rest of his team to put down their weapons._

_With that, Jill brought Alice to the car and placed her in the back seat next to her. L.J., who was sitting behind the wheel, started the car and all 5 of them drove off. Finally, they had succeeded in their mission and had Alice with them again. Finally, they'd freed her from Umbrella's grasp. Finally, their group was complete again._

_But they soon noticed that something was off about Alice. She wasn't the same anymore. Umbrella had done something to her that made her different and distant. Something unexplainable and not understandable. Everytime they questioned her what the hell happened to her, she didn't know the answer. It seemed like she had amnesia or something. _

_In the following weeks, they realised Umbrella had genetically altered Alice. Often when she slept, things started to move in the room she was sleeping in. It was like she had telekinetic abilities. They didn't know what to do about it. Sending her back to Umbrella would be the stupidest mistake ever. _

_But as time went by, Alice's abilities only became stronger and stronger. It even came to a point where being around her was too dangerous, since she couldn't control the things she did. They all blamed Umbrella for the mess they were in, but that didn't solve their problems with Alice. _

_It wasn't until a month after Detroit, that Alice had decided to leave the group. She just couldn't be around them anymore. So she'd just left in the middle of the night, leaving only a letter, which explained why she'd left. The following morning, they all were shocked to find out Alice was missing._

_"We have to get her back", Carlos said as they were standing in his motelroom._

_"No, we don't", Jill replied._

_"Why the hell not?" Carlos asked, surprised that Jill seemed to be so calm and cold about Alice leaving the group._

_"Did you forget what she's done? What she's put us through?" Jill asked back, "I think it would be best for all of us if she'd stay gone."_

_"You can't seriously mean that", Carlos said angrily._

_"Think about it. Without her, it'll be easier for us to hide for the police", Jill said, "Isn't that what we're trying to do?"_

_Carlos thought about it. The person he'd cared most for was gone and now Jill was telling him to let her go. He just couldn't understand what Jill was thinking. Didn't she want the group to be a strong force against Umbrella? Having Alice with them would've made attacking them a lot easier. So how can she say that it was best to let her go? _

_However, Carlos still was a little groggy from waking up just minutes ago, so he didn't want to argue with Jill at this time in the morning. The last thing he could use right now was someone throwing a hissy-fit at him._

_"Fine", Carlos said, "But we'll talk about it later."_

_With that, everyone went to pack their things and get ready to leave._

_However, hiding from the police didn't work out so well. 2 weeks after Alice had left the group, they were being chased by 2 police cars._

_Since the United States weren't completely overrun with the T-Virus yet, the police miraculously still had time left to chase 2 perpetrators of something as simple as a hoax. Jill throught of it as ridiculous. Why was the police spending time on them, when they should spend their time on the infection that was spreading throughout the USA? It just didn't make any sense. _

_Of course the Umbrella Corporation blamed them for putting a video of the infected Raccoon City on the Internet, but it just seemed unlikely that they'd put weeks of work into a 'crime' they themselves actually committed. There must've been something else they were after. Something Jill didn't know about. _

_However, the ironic part of this situation actually was that she was now being pursued by the same kind of people she once used to be working with. _

_Screaming sirens could be heard behind them. It was only lucky that they had stolen another car, so that they could split up any second to divide the attention of the police, creating a bigger chance to get away from them. The infection had caused the roads to be almost empty, shaping yet another opportunity for them to escape the police. _

_Jill, wearing the same clothes that she had worn in Raccoon City, looked into her rear-view mirror and saw the police cars nearing them. If they got caught, they would be going thraight to jail. Or worse: they'd end up in one of Umbrella's labs, being used as test subjects. She couldn't let that happen. _

_She looked behind her at a sleeping Angie, who was unaware of the whole situation. She wouldn't let this happen to her, even if she would have to die protecting her. _

_Ever since Alice left, Angie had been heartbroken. Her father had been shot and left for dead, and now the person who she could bond the most with was gone. She just left her without saying goodbye. Since then, she considered Jill as her surrogate mother. Not only because they could get on with each other very well, but also because she had no one else to relate to. Besides, Jill taught her how to shoot a gun, which was fun to learn. _

_Suddenly, Jill steered off the main road and into a smaller one, hoping to shake the police off their tails. She'd see Carlos and L.J. later again. Right now, her main concern was losing the police. _

_As they were driving through a forest, Angie slowly woke up, noticing the trees they were passing by. _

_"Where are we?" Angie asked, "And where are Carlos and L.J.?"_

_Jill looked at Angie in her rear-view mirror. "We had to split up", she said, "But don't worry. We'll see them soon again."_

_Jill turned her attention back to the road, while Angie just looked out the window._

_"Do you miss her?" Angie asked after a moment._

_"Who?" Jill asked. _

_"Alice", Angie answered._

_"Yes, I miss her", Jill replied._

_Jill still remembered the moment she met Alice back in Raccoon City. She still remembered her motorcycle bursting through the church's window and landing between the pews. The speed in which she killed the creatures that had been harassing her for quite some time, was remarkable. Not ever had she seen someone with such an agility and accuracy. Right from the start, she knew that this woman was going to be a valuable asset to their group. And she was, for the time being._

_"Then why did you let her leave us?" Angie asked._

_"Do you still blame me for that?" Jill asked. _

_After a moment of silence, Jill continued. "She had to leave, because she was dangerous", she said, "Do you remember 'the incident'?"_

_"Yeah, all the furniture was floating around the room", Angie responded._

_Angie still recalled the night she woke up, only to find out that the bed she was sleeping in was floating a few inches from the floor. This had made her not only terrified about what would happen, but she also knew that it was Alice who was making her bed float in the air. It wasn't the first time this happened and it would probably not be the last time. The rest of the group had noticed this too, so they immediately woke Alice up. _

_Quickly after they'd done that, all furniture in the room crashed down to the floor, making a loud noise. It was only lucky they had no neighbours, or else they would've been in a lot of trouble. But this incident was also the moment when the rest of the group had begun to wonder whether it was safe to keep Alice around. After all, she and her powers had caused all of this._

_"Exactly", Jill said, "And do you know why that was?" _

_"Because you said Umbrella did something to Alice to make her do those things", Angie replied, "But that doesn't explain why she had to leave."_

_"She had to leave, because she didn't controll the things she did", Jill said, "And that made her dangerous. She could've gotten you hurt."_

_"Oh, she coud've gotten me hurt?" Angie said sarcastically, "Well, maybe Alice is hurting now. Did you ever think of that?"_

_Jill didn't like the sarcastic tone in Angie's voice at all. From a sweet little girl, Angie seemed to have become an annoying teen. On top of that, they were still being chased by the police. The least thing she could use, was someone who was rude to her. Angry, Jill turned her face towards Angie, keeping her eyes off the road._

_"Listen, Angie", Jill began to vent, "I did that all for your own good. I didn't want you to get hurt. She was dangerous, to all of us."_

_With that, Jill suddenly lost controll of the car. In a blink of an eye, the car began to swerve to the left and right of the road, like it had suddenly gotten a will of its own. Frightened, Jill quickly tried to grab the wheel again as the car swerved off the road and into an embankment. _

_A scared Angie began to scream and tried not to look as a tree came closer and closer in view. As hard as she could, Jill tried to get control over the car again, jerking on the steering wheel in front of her. She squeezed her eyes shut as she didn't want to see where she'd end up while she still tried her best to get the car on the road again. She just didn't want to see herself failing._

_But it was too late. Suddenly, everything seemed to go in slow-motion. First, the front hood of the car began to slam into a tree before Jill could even notice it. Then, the car all of a sudden came to a crashing halt. Next, both Jill and Angie hit their heads badly. And finally, the both of them were rendered unconscious as everything went to black._

* * *

Jill woke up with a jolt, frightened by the dream she just had. Frantically, she looked around. Realizing it was just a memory, touched upon in her dream, she took a long deep breath.

Calmed down, Jill noticed that she was still wearing the same paper gown as before as she was sitting on the metal operation table.

Actually, it wasn't a gown. A gown would've covered her body in a more appropriate way. But now it just looked like they'd sandwiched her naked body between 2 pieces of surgical paper, which were only covering the front and back of that body. Her legs, both of her sides, the top of her chest and her shoulders were all left uncovered, resulting in her bare body being exposed from her toes all the way up to her head. Hardly a gown. And it only seemed like they, whoever they were, had wanted her to be this exposed. Only the reason why she couldn't understand.

Putting the questions in her mind away, Jill felt her side. Dried blood was coming from 2 wounds that were created by the IV's that had been attached to her body when she first woke up. She winced as the wounds still stung a little. However, she ignored it and noticed the barcode with the number '014' under it that sat on her left upper arm. While trying to erase the barcode, Jill realised that it was a tattoo and decided to stop and look around.

Jill observed her surroundings. She was still locked up in the same white room she had previously been in, medical lights shining down on her. Somehow, she'd been knocked unconscious and carried onto this metal operation table again. And it also seemed like she was locked up again, just like before.

However, then she noticed something missing. The IV's were gone. They had taken away the only things that could get her out of this white room.

There weren't any grates she could crawl into to escape, since the only grates that were in the room were high on the walls around her. Places she couldn't reach. She couldn't move the metal operation table she was sitting on, as it was stuck to the floor. Plus there were no windows or other ways to get out. Only the door, which was locked from the outside. The only way through the door, was entering the right code on a little keypad next to it. Besides, you needed a card to swipe through the slot of the keypad. Only then, the door would open.

Jill felt so stupid for trying to escape and getting knocked unconscious by the man in the hazmat suit. In her weakened state, there was just no way she was going to get free from her imprisonment. Not when her bloodstream seemed to have been pumped dry by the IV's that were attached to her body. And now she regretted that she didn't wait a few days to escape. Because then, she would've been stronger. Of course, she could still try to escape, but such an attempt would be nearly impossible now.

"Dammit", Jill said angrily, slamming her fist on the hard metal surface of the operation table.

Jill got off the operation table and walked right over to the mirror, which she somehow knew was in fact a one-way window, meant for them to keep an eye on her. She had seen many one-way windows like this when she was with the R.C.P.D., so she knew instinctively that this mirror was one too.

As if the cameras, which she noticed were hanging on each corner of the ceiling and on the wall near the window of the room, weren't enough for them to watch her. Jill didn't care, even though she was only wearing some sort of weird gown, which showed most of her bare body. If they wanted to get a kick out of her near-nudity, they should just go right ahead. All that she wanted, was to be let out of this room.

Standing in front of the mirror, she started to pound her fists on it.

"Let me out", Jill demanded. "Let me out!" she called for anyone. But no one responded.

"Let me out!" Jill began to scream as someone on the other side of the glass was smirking at her.

* * *

**Author's note: By the time you've finished reading this chapter, you've probably noticed that this is going to be a very long story. But don't worry, I know where I'm going with this. Just wait and see. I can, however, say that the 3 factions you've read about till now (which are # 1 Alice/Chris, # 2 Jill/Umbrella and # 3 K-Mart/Claire) are soon going to be reduced to only 2 factions, but not for a little while. What factions these are you'll have to find out for yourself. **

**Also, do you still like where I'm going with this story? I'd like to know, because it'll help my writing and the story. So please leave a review/comment and tell me what you think. Thanks in advance.**


	12. Unknown Territory

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

_Slow shuffling sounds could be heard on the cold linoleum floor, along with the soft moaning that usually accompanied an undead. The whole section smelled like rotten fruit, vegetables and other non-describable things. It was cold, winter raging outside the sliding doors that gave entrance to the store._

_14-year old Dahlia shivered a little as her body was raging with anxiousness. As she was only wearing a short sleeved "I Love Las Vegas"-shirt, a pair of worn-out blue denim jeans and brown leather boots, she didn't exactly feel that warm. Yet she had no other choice but to wear what was not already taken by other survivors in the 2 years that she'd been at this K-Mart store. A nail gun was tucked into her waist band, ready to use it on unpleasant intruders._

_"Come on now, just a little bit closer", Dahlia whispered, almost inaudably._

_Gripping the handle bars of the shopping cart more firmly, Dahlia was silently watching the undead shuffling through the fruit and vegetables-section, in anticipation for it to reach a certain spot._

_It had been 2 years since Dahlia had lost her parents. However, the memory of losing them to flesh-eating creatures was still fresh in her mind. Even after 2 years, she could still hear the horrifying screams of her parents when she was running out of the alley, only to cry her heart out in an abandoned K-Mart store. Ever since then, she'd stayed at the store, because it provided her with just enough protection from the undead outside and enough food for a lifetime._

_Despite the automated doors at the entrance being cut off from electricity by Dahlia herself, one of the creatures outside had gotten in. How? She had no freaking clue, yet she wasn't planning on standing by and watching silently. No, she wanted this creature gone. Permanently!_

_The zombie was now right in front of a huge pile of stacked cans of pork and beans. Just the right spot Dahlia had wanted it to be. Quickly, she made a run for it, revealing herself from her hide-out and pushing the shopping cart along, small wheels squeaking. It immediately seemed like the Undead had heard the 14-year old girl approaching as it turned around and began a shuffling march towards her, craving for her flesh._

_Dahlia's body was now even more pumped with adrenaline. She hadn't felt this anxious in a very long time. Right at the center of her attention was the Undead gradually making it's way towards her as she ran faster and faster towards it. She had launched herself on a collission course and there was no stopping herself now. _

_Though just about a few feet from the creature, Dahlia let go of the cart at full speed, sending it crashing into the zombie. Next, the creature was pushed backwards, stumbling from the sudden impact of the shopping cart hitting its stomach. Dahlia watched on with delight and relief as her plan finally seemed to work, grabbing the nail gun out of her pants and slowly making her way towards the zombie as it fell backwards into the pile of canned pork and beans. _

_The silence in the store was suddenly interrupted with the sound of tin cans hitting the floor, clattering like crazy. Some of them spilled open, the rotten contents spreading over the linoleum. Carefully, Dahlia manouvred her way around the puddles of disgusting liquids towards the Undead, which was on its back in the center of the destroyed pile, unmoving. Somehow, the crash seemed to have momentarily shut down the zombies' brain, but Dahlia knew that it wouldn't last forever. It would soon rise again and haunt her through the store, set on feeding from her flesh. Which was why she quickly aimed the nail gun at the Undead's forehead, her finger on the trigger._

_"Here's your gift", Dahlia coldly said and with just one squeeze of the trigger, a nail to the brain made and end to the creatures existence._

_Dahlia sighed. Once again, she survived. As she tucked the nail gun back into her pants, she lingered a little as she stared at the zombie. The foul smell was entering her nose, yet she was still intrigued by the sight of this monster, which was once just an oridinary living breathing person, possibly with a wife and kids. How absolutely sad that it had ended this way. Dahlia felt miserable just thinking about it._

_However, that's when a sound suddenly came from the roof. Dahlia immediately snapped out of her concentration and turned her head towards the ceiling. It sounded like another survivor or zombie was entering the store. _

_"Not again", Dahlia sighed._

_Quickly, she hid behind one of the trays that held rotten carrots, intending to stay and watch, curious about the nature of the sounds. There was a slight chance that instead of another zombie, a survivor would come and rescue her. _

_In the past few months, Dahlia had began to run out of food. If she'd find anything that would be slightly edible and not completely rotten, she'd be lucky. But most of the time, she just had to do with the small supply she still had left over. Even clothes were scarce to get. Most of it had been ransacked by other people, leaving little for her to wear. Lately, she had been forced to walk around without any underwear, just because there wasn't any left. So she hoped against all hopes that one day, she'd be saved from this place as she was afraid of going outside alone. _

_Dahlia watched as an air vent was removed and a man dropped from the ceiling. He was wearing a short sleeved black T-shirt, covered by a bullet proof black vest and was armed with several guns. And judging from the look of his muscled chest, arms and shoulders, Dahlia guessed that this seemingly Hispanic looking man, despite the world being ravaged by the undead, still had time to do his daily exercises. She sighed with relief. Could this man be her savior? Time would only tell._

_Quickly after the man had landed on the floor, he drew one of his weapons as he saw the dead zombie lying in the pile of canned pork and beans, carefully examining the undead creature. From the look on his face, Dahlia deduced that this man wasn't here for nothing. He was looking for something, that Dahlia knew for sure. However, what it was, was still unknown to her._

_"Is anyone there?" the man asked with some sort of South-American accent._

_Dahlia questioned herself if she would just be bold and reveal herself to him. In the past, though, she hadn't always been treated fairly by the people that had entered the store. Some of them were good to her, some of them were bad. There were even some people who had tried to feed her to the zombies, which had been horrifying. But eventually, they all had either left without her or had been killed off by the undead, which left her just the way she'd been before: alone. So would this man be any different? There was only one way to find out._

_Slowly, Dahlia pulled out the nail gun out of her waist band and started to get up, showing herself to this man._

_"Don't move", Dahlia sounded threatening as she aimed the nail gun at the stranger._

_From the look on his surprised face, Dahlia could tell that a 14-year old girl wasn't exacty what this man had expected, yet she still kept the nail gun trained on him. For all she knew, this man was a rapist or something. Not exactly trustworthy material, in her opinion, which was why she continued to aim the weapon at this man, expecting the unexpected._

_The man inspected the girl in front of him and noticed the nail gun in her hand._

_"But... that's a nail gun", the man said unconvinced, knowing that nail guns can only shoot nails when touching a surface._

_With that, however, Dahlia directed the gun towards the floor and squeezed the trigger. As soon as a nail hit the floor, the man jumped in surprise. Guess he hadn't been anticipating that, which left Dahlia with a devilish grin on her face._

_"I've modified it", she informed the intruder as she aimed the nail gun back at him._

_"Look, I mean you no harm", the man said, still a little bit shaken, "You can trust me."_

_"Yeah, that's what they all say", Dahlia said unconvinced, "Proof it."_

_"Well, there's a convoy just outside that's waiting for my return", the man replied, "You can come with me if you want."_

_"Oh, and by the way, I'm Carlos", the man added, "Carlos Oliveira."_

_Dahlia looked up from her gun. Where was this sudden invitation coming from? Did this guy really mean no harm? Could he be trusted? What if this 'convoy' was just a trick to lure her outside? But what if it wasn't? That's what she wanted to find out. She just wanted to find out if this guy could be trusted. She just wanted to know for sure that she'd be safe with him, as she'd been mislead many times before by people. _

_"Like I said, proof it", an unsure Dahlia said._

_"What if I brought another convoy member to you", the man, Carlos, opted, "Would that be enough proof?"_

_"I guess", Dahlia doubted._

_There was still this doubt that Dahlia could not quite describe. Something about this guy seemed trustworthy, but at the same time she was still skeptical about him. Would she be making the right choice by going with him? Or would it be the biggest mistake of her life? If she'd choose to come with this guy, she not only would be leaving a place behind to which she'd become accostumed to, but she'd also trade her safe confort zone for a situation in which she'd be an easier target for the undead. So she needed to be absolutely sure about this issue._

_With that, Dahlia watched as the man began to make his way towards the hole in the ceiling, curious about this opportunity to continue her survival in this infected world._

* * *

K-Mart groaned as she took yet another step through the freshly fallen snow, leaning on the treebranche she used as a crutch. Sweatdrops were streaming down her face, accompanied by an excruciating headache. The bluish hue of the full moon shining through the dense pine tree forest illuminated the trail of footsteps she'd left behind. All around her were trees that rather looked like huge creatures with tentacles. The cold wind crashed against her, cutting into her body to the point of freezing her to death. She felt scared, but it wasn't from the things that surrounded her.

Ever since leaving Claire behind, both the psychological en physical pain had become unbearable to the point of being a hell to live through. With every mind-numbing step, K-Mart just felt the T-Virus coursing through her bloodstream. All children from the convoy seemed to be missing, or even worse, dead. Everyone was gone. Vanished without a trace. Unable to track down. Nowhere to be found.

"Hello? Is there anyone?" K-Mart yelled out into the open, though there was no response.

She winced as her leg continued to sting, wiping buckets of sweat from her forehead. K-Mart wanted to die. It would only be a matter of hours before she turned, so it wouldn't matter anyway. There was no one out there. No one to save her from the virus within her body. She was all left alone, bereft of any safe haven. God knew how long the unbearable pain was going to last. She wanted to die, as soon as possible. Just have it over with.

Groaning from the mind-numbing headache, a wincing K-Mart halted and took a look around. She felt horrible, to say the least, and there was no one out there as far as she could see. Just trees and snow everywhere she looked. Tiredness seemed to be about to consume her any minute now as her eyelids became heavier and heavier.

Or at least, that was until she noticed something in the distance. Something that seemed like a safe haven. Something that looked like a small building in the middle of the woods. It appeared to be a cabin of sorts...

* * *

Everything was dark. From the wooden floor to the wooden ceiling, everything in the room was covered with darkness. From the windows, the faint light of the moon was shining through.

Nothing could be heard, except for the soft breathing of a man, who was sleeping in a double bed, which was positioned against one of the walls of the room. The walls were made of wooden logs, giving it a relaxing feel. Outside, the sounds of the wind and the rustling of leaves could be heard. The man in de double bed was only wearing his underwear, which made sleeping and turning around in his sleep more comfortable. Everything seemed peaceful.

Suddenly, a stumbling sound could be heard from another room. It seemed like the sound broke through the peacefulness as the man in the double bed woke up and opened his eyes. As the rumbling sounds continued, the man listened carefully. It sounded like some animal had broken in and was running around, knocking over furniture. Or it could be a zombie, set on feeding on his flesh. That would be even worse...

Whatever it was, the man in the double bed didn't like the sound and got up from his lying position, turning on a light that was standing on a nightstand next to the bed.

Now that the light was on, the features of the man were more visible. He had long autumn blonde hair, blue eyes and he was clean-shaven, muscular and looking to be in his mid-20's. Yawning and shielding his eyes from the light, he reached for a drawer of the nightstand and pulled it open. Once the drawer was open, he took a gun out of it, ready to shoot whoever or whatever it was that broke into his home.

Getting out of bed, he walked out of the room and into a hall. He didn't even feel like getting dressed. He just wanted to confront the person in the other room.

At the end of the hall, there was a stairs that lead down. Listening carefully again, he noticed that the sound was coming from downstairs, leading him towards the living room, which was also covered in darkness, the only light coming from the windows in the front and back of the room. And also here, the walls were made from wooden logs.

All of a sudden, there was the rumbling sound again. It sounded closer now, like there was someone or something in the room.

"Who's there?" the man asked as he looked around to find out where the sound was coming from.

All sorts of furniture were standing in the room, including a few cabinets, a couch, tables and many more.

Looking further around the room, the man saw a silhouette of a person lying on the floor next to the couch. A person who didn't seem to move...

Fearing it would be a zombie that had managed to break into his home, the man turned on a light, shedding some of it's illumination on the person. Having a better sight on the person, the man noticed that it was a girl with long blonde hair, who was lying sideways and unconscious on the floor.

Carefully approaching the girl on the ground, aiming his gun ready to shoot her, the man saw that one of her legs had been bleeding furiously, but it was now covered with dried up blood. The girl's clothes were as wet as if she'd just walked through the rain without a coat and her hair was a mess.

"Who are you?" the man asked as he came closer to the girl.

However, the girl didn't respond, which wasn't reassuring. Still afraid the girl would be a zombie, the man kneeled down next to her and carefully checked her pulse. If she were still alive, he'd feel a heartbeat. If not, then he needed to get rid of the body as soon as possible before this girl would possibly turn into one of the flesh eating things outside.

The man sighed as he felt a heartbeat, which meant that this girl was luckily still alive. He looked at the girl's face, which he thought was pretty. Then he checked the girl's leg, which looked like a zombie had bitten into it.

"My God", the man said, realising the girl was infected.

Now, the man had to act quickly. He wouldn't just let this poor girl turn. So he quickly got up and walked towards a painting of a beautiful landscape on the wall. Removing the painting, the man revealed a hidden combination safe in the wall behind the painting. As he typed in the right code to get into the safe, the man took a quick glance at the girl, worried she'd die.

After the right code was entered, the combination safe opened, revealing a silver suitcase within. The man quickly grabbed the suitcase out of the safe and put it on a table nearby.

Opening the suitcase, the man revealed many vials and a syringe, packed into foam. The vials were holding double helixes, filled with a green substance, looking more like lemonade than something that could safe the girl's life. But nonetheless, the man took one of the vials and the syringe out of the case.

After filling the syringe with the green stuff, he quickly returned to the girl, who seemed to look more pale than ever before. Since she was wearing a shirt with short sleeves, it saved a lot of time not having to tuck up a sleeve. So the man quickly stuck the needle of the syringe into her arm, pushing the green substance into her bloodstream.

"Come on", the man said, clenching his teeth, "Hang on!"

As the man was injecting her with the green substance, the man grew more worried every minute. All he could think of, was saving this girl from turning into an undead. After the green stuff was injected into the girl's arm, the man lay the syringe on the table, hoping it would do it's thing. Hopefully, this girl would make it. Hopefully, she'd be alright.

* * *

**Author's note: Yep, it's time to introduce a new character to you. Who this guy is? I'm not telling you, so please leave me a guess in your reviews and comments.**

**It's actually interesting how I've written this chapter. At first, there was only the segment about this man finding the girl, who you've probably guessed is K-Mart, on the ground and injecting something into her. Then a few reviews trickled in (for which I thank you, guys), and the segment got extended with the part about a badly hurt K-Mart making her way through the forest. And lastly, I'd come up with the flashback sequence at the beginning of this chapter, just because I'd thought it'd fit nicely with the way everything else happens within the chapter. And as for the lack of dialogue in this chapter, I promise you there'll be more dialogue in the chapters to come. **

**Also, there's a little nod to Resident Evil: Extinction in this chapter. Just see if you can find it. And please tell me when you do. Reviews and comments are highly appreciated. Thanks in advance. **


	13. Past Revelations

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

A puddle of water splashed under his feet as Chris walked through the sewers, which were beneath San Diego.

Chris found himself and Alice in a sewer which looked like everything he imagined a sewer to look like. This place was dark and filthy. Water could be heard dripping everywhere and the walls were stained with all sorts of things that smelled horribly. Puddles of dirty water connected beneath his feet. Really not a place Chris would love to hang around in. But nontheless, he was here with Alice as they made their way towards the ocean.

"Where are you from, Chris Redfield?" Alice asked all of a sudden, her voice echoing through the tunnels as she was walking ahead of Chris.

As they'd been walking for quite a while, Chris had already expected Alice to ask about his past, especially since she didn't seem to trust him completely yet. He'd already figured that she'd want to know everything about him, so it was only obvious that she started to ask questions now.

However, Chris only wanted to share certain things about his past so that he didn't have to delve deeper into the subject. And that was only because he also didn't fully trust Alice yet as she'd been the one to stop his bullet with her crazy powers, which was definitely something strange and maybe even dangerous. So he wanted to handle her carefully. Not revealing too much about himself was what he'd promised himself when he'd meet someone new and it always worked out okay. So he also didn't want to reveal too much about his past now.

"Manhattan. Moved there when I was 10 years old", Chris replied.

"New York, huh? Lovely city", Alice commented.

"Not that lovely as it seems", Chris murmured almost inaudibly with his head bowed down.

As Chris came to learn as he was growing up, he experienced that living in The Big Apple was always busy, stressful and expensive. That's why he couldn't blame his dad for leaving their family when he was just 14 years old. Ever since then, his mother had tried everything she could to keep the family afloat. But life only went downhill after that, which started with his mother becoming an alcoholic. However, he couldn't blame her. Had he been in the exact same situation she was in, he would've turned to the bottle too.

"Why's that?" Alice questioned Chris curiously.

"I don't have that much fond memories of it", Chris answered carefully.

"I'm sorry to hear that", Alice remorsefully replied.

"Yeah, me too", Chris sighed as he remembered his early life.

Alice didn't know what to feel for Chris. She still didn't fully trust him, even though he seemed to be honest about his personal life. She just needed to hear more about him before she could judge that she could trust him. She didn't know why she had such a hard time trusting Chris. Of course he'd shot a bullet at her just hours ago, but that didn't have to mean that he was evil or something. And of course Alice still had her suspicions about him, but maybe those suspicions would be disproved if she learnt more about him.

"So what did you do for a living?" Alice asked.

"I used to work for the U.B.C.S.", Chris shared.

"The Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service?" Alice clarified for herself.

"Yeah, didn't take long, though", Chris sighed, "At least, not until the Outbreak."

Even though Chris had promised himself he'd never turn into an alcoholic like his mom, he eventually became one too at the age of 16. To escape from the busy life in the city, he used to hang out with his friends. And since he had an addicition going on, he had to find other means to get some money. That's why, even though he wouldn't be proud of it later, he used to commit robberies with his friends. This, of course, lead to several run-ins with the police. But every time, he'd managed to somehow stay out of jail. However, after a while, he finally realised that this life of getting drunk and going out nearly every night wasn't going to lead him anywhere.

That's when he saw an advertisement, calling out to young men and women to become part of U.B.C.S., a law-enforcing unit owned by the Umbrella Corporation. Since becoming a soldier was all Chris had dreamt about since he was just a little kid, he decided to go for it and pursue his dream, moving to Raccoon City to join them. That's when he finally realised what his purpose in life was all about. It wasn't about getting drunk or going out. No, it was about defending the honor of his country under the Umbrella Corporation.

After a while, Alice and Chris came upon a corner. Carefully, Alice looked around the corner to see if something dangerous was coming their way. After all, none of them knew whether or not there would be zombies in these sewers. So it was just best to be careful.

"So why you'd gone looking for your sister?" Alice continued to ask while she was observing.

"I did some things I'm not proud of", Chris explained, "That's why I need to..."

"Make amends?", Alice continued Chris' sentence questioningly after she'd declared that the area was safe and was now looking at Chris.

Chris nervously looked back at Alice, but hesitated whether or not he should confirm it. After all, it was a touchy subject and he doubted whether or not he should tell Alice all. After all, he'd just met her mere hours ago, so he didn't know if she could be fully trusted with these sorts of things. Normally, he wouldn't have shared these sorts of things with a complete stranger at all, but somehow he felt like there was something different with this woman. There just was something trustworthy about her.

During his time with the U.B.C.S., Chris began to realise that he had to make up for his past mistakes with his sister Claire. After their mother was killed in a car accident, Claire was the only living family member he'd left. She was there for him when he came home drunk nearly every night, taking off his shoes and getting him to bed. It was like she was the bigger sister, instead of him being the bigger brother.

That's why he'd made it his mission to find her. The guilt of putting Claire through the most terrible times of her life was just too unbearable for him to carry. That's why he needed to make amends with her, how badly she'd possibly hate him. He just wanted this guilt to go away.

"I get it", Alice said, dropping the subject.

Alice had already noticed about Chris' nervousness that he didn't want to delve deeper into his relationship with his sister, which was understandable in her opinion. She also had some things that she'd rather not share about herself, such as what Umbrella did to her and a few other things about her past. Things that were rather too personal to her. So she completely understood Chris about this, if not only for herself wanting to keep certain things a secret. So instead, she changed the subject.

"So, this was your plan of getting to the ocean and getting us a boat?" Alice asked, her voice echoing through the damp tunnels as they continued on their way again.

To Alice, the sewers looked exactly like the sewers that were beneath the Hive in Raccoon City. That's why she had a strange feeling of deja vu as she was walking behind Chris as she'd let him go in front. Every moment, she expected a zombie to just show up out of nowhere. But until now, they hadn't encountered any undead creatures, which was much to her relief.

Chris sighed at the fact that Alice had changed the subject, for which he appreciated her. Not only was his relationship with his sister a subject he'd rather not talk about, but it was also something he only shared with his sister. Only she knew about certain things and it wasn't somebody else's business to get into it. That's why he was glad that Alice seemed to understand this and changed the subject.

"Why'd you ask?" Chris asked relieved.

"Because they can get here too, especially now that we ditched the car?" Alice said, referring to the zombies above them and also being the obvious one.

"At least here are less undead than in the streets above us", Chris replied.

"You think?" Alice continued, thinking of the horrible things that had went down in the Hive.

"Yeah", Chris said, "What, are you afraid or something?"

"No, it's just that I've been down this road before", Alice said.

Suddenly, Alice realised that she'd just revealed something about her past. Something from her past she didn't want Chris to know about yet as it was too early to tell him about it. First, she just wanted to feel comfortable with him before she could reveal too much about herself. But now there wasn't any avoiding the conversation that was about to follow. She knew Chris was about to ask her questions about her past. After all, she'd also questioned him about his past, so it was only fair of him to return the favor. But now it was just too early to tell him something about her past life.

However, now Alice had to learn to trust Chris with one of the secrets from her past, even though she didn't trust him enough yet. However, she didn't have a choice but to answer his questions. She could still lie, but what was the point in that? Chris seemed like a valuable asset to her. An asset she didn't want to lose by lying to him. So it was just best to answer him truthfully, even if the conversation would lead to Umbrella's involvement in her life.

"And where was that?" Chris asked curiously.

"Raccoon City", Alice answered truthfully.

All of a sudden, Chris stopped dead in his tracks. The mention of Raccoon City suddenly surprised him, because it meant that this woman had also been there, just like himself when he was with the U.B.C.S. Obviously, she didn't remember him being there. Otherwise, she would've mentioned knowing him. This was quite a coincidence.

"What?" Chris asked surprised, "When?"

"5 years ago", Alice replied.

"You're kidding, right?" Chris asked.

The last thing Chris had heard about Raccoon City, was that it was nuked to the ground by a defected power plant. Or at least, that's what Umbrella had told everyone who'd managed to make it out of that city alive. And if it wasn't for him believing them, he would've gone back there to find out what exactly happened there. He was just that curious. But now that Alice was telling him she'd been there too, there was no need to go back there anymore as he already got confirmation of his suspicions.

Still, it was hard for him to believe her. Of course there was the possibility of Alice making it out of Raccoon City before the nuclear explosion, but what if she was there the moment that power plant exploded? What if she'd escaped just in time? And how did she escape back then? This reveal sparked Chris' curiosity even more than it already had.

"Excuse me?" Alice asked offended.

"There's no way you could've survived that nuclear explosion over there", Chris said.

"Well, I did", Alice told him.

"How?" Chris asked.

Alice sighed. Now came the hard part of her telling the truth. Now she had to tell Chris about her being an Umbrella-experiment with psychic abilities. There was no other way around it. Of course she could still lie about it and tell Chris some other explanation about her escaping Raccoon City. But then again, what was the point in lying if she didn't want to lose such a valuable asset? Exactly, none.

However, Alice was afraid Chris wouldn't believe her, just like he didn't believe her about surviving Raccoon City. That's why she, at first, didn't want to tell him about her and Umbrella, just like with everyone else that had wanted to know about her past. She just was afraid to be called a freak once again, or at least to be thought about as a freak. She just didn't want to be judged by what crazy stuff she could do. No, she wanted to be judged for who she currently is. But still she wanted to take a leap of faith with Chris, so she just decided to tell him the truth.

"I got seized by Umbrella's scientists", Alice explained.

"What'd they do to you?" Chris asked.

"Experiments", Alice said.

"What?" Chris asked shocked.

Ever since he'd started working for Umbrella, Chris had heard rumours and whispers about Umbrella testing their viruses on living human beings, but he'd never gotten a confirmation of those rumours, which is why he didn't believe those rumours. And that's also why, after the world's population had turned into the undead, he guessed that some sort of virus or sickness had struck the world. A virus no company could've ever developed, especially not the Umbrella Corporation. In his eyes, they were just a harmless pharmaceutical company and not some sort of company that released all sorts of undead monsters on the earth, which was why it was hard for him to believe Alice.

Also, now that this woman was telling him about her being one of Umbrella's experiments, he just couldn't believe what he was hearing. No way Umbrella had actually experimented on living humans. Just no way. They would've been arrested if something of the like ever got leaked to the media. So it was just impossible in his opinion, which was also the reason why he had a hard time believing Alice.

"They've injected a virus into me", Alice continued to explain.

"That's why you were able to stop that bullet I shot at you", Chris said, thinking about what happened earlier.

"Exactly", Alice said, "That's why they need to pay for what they've done to me."

Chris nodded in understanding, but it was still hard to believe this woman. Not only was what this woman was talking about very illegal, but this was also something that she could've just made up. But then there was also the fact that she'd stopped his bullet in mid-air with her mind, which was also something worth considering. There just was no logical explanation for the things Alice had done, so there seemed to be nothing left than to believe her to be telling the truth.

However, if this woman was telling the truth, he couldn't blame her for being so careful and tense, but also vulnerable and insecure, all the time. If what she was saying was true, than he didn't feel anything but reget for working for the ones that did this to her. He just couldn't understand why such a large company would ever have to rely on the testing of humans. That was what was so disgusting about Alice's story.

And of course he still had the choice to believe her or not, but he'd already known Alice long enough to know that this woman wouldn't just lie to him. He could just tell by the look on her face when she was telling him this. After all, it was the same look she had when he was telling her about his history just minutes ago. A look that showed sincerity and honesty.

"I understand", Chris said as he began to walk again.

"You do?" Alice asked, relieved that Chris didn't seem to be freaked out by her.

"Of course", Chris answered, "If I can believe that people can rise from the dead, then I can believe this too."

"Look, I know it's hard for you to believe me", Alice said, still afraid Chris wasn't buying her story, "But I'm telling you the truth."

"Don't worry about it", Chris just said.

Alice sighed with relief. Finally, someone seemed to believe her and he didn't call her a freak. This alone made Chris Redfield someone who she could trust, but he was also an understanding and honest person to be around with. With this in mind, a relieved Alice and Chris walked further through the sewers, their footsteps echoing through the dark tunnels.

* * *

**Author's note: Just a little character development between Alice and Chris. I hope you like it.**

**As for the ones who don't like the background I've written for Chris, I can only tell you that I wrote it this way, because it fits better with the story in regards to future chapters. So I hope you don't mind.**

**Also, I'll be reducing the flashbacks from now on. With this, I'm not saying that you won't get to read anymore flashbacks in future chapters, but the amount of them will be less than in previous chapters. Feel free to give me feedback on this and the previous chapters of this story. Comments and reviews make me want to write more. So please keep them going. Thanks in advance. **


	14. Virus

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

_An utterly ravaged dark red BMW hadn't moved from the place were it had crashed against a tree. The front bumper of the car still had the markings of where the tree had hit it, leaving the front hood full of dents. The front windshield had collapsed inwards, shattered glass lying on the floor and in the seats of the car. Both the driver's door and the passenger's door had been opened, showing a view of the destruction inside. _

_A cop walked from behind the car to the front into a crowd of cops and nurses. The crash site had been sealed off by the police, and now they were looking for any clues about how the car had possibly crashed. The nurses that were walking around the site were wearing white nurse clothes, having an Umbrella-logo on the left side of their chests._

_In the middle of the crowd, the Chief of Police was standing next to no other person than Dr. Isaacs. The Chief was reading a document, leaving through pages, while Isaacs was just looking around the crash site. The chief turned his face towards Isaacs._

_"So I'm just supposed to hand these 2 criminals over to your corporation?" the Chief asked the doctor, having a suspicious look on his face. After all, Umbrella blamed one of the victims of this accident for causing a hoax about Raccoon City being infected._

_"That's what the order in your hand says, Chief", Isaacs answered dryly. _

_"No questions asked?", the Chief questioned, unsure but determined._

_"You can always call my boss and say that you don't trust the Umbrella Corporation", Isaacs replied, not impressed by the Chief. _

_"I will", the Chief firmly said and walked away, leaving an amused Isaacs there._

_Isaacs walked towards a stretcher that had a woman with black hair lying on it. A woman whose name Isaacs knew was Jill Valentine. Her face was covered with cuts and bruises, dried blood running from her face over to her bare shoulder via her neck as she was still wearing the blue tube top. The rest of her body was covered with a tarp. _

_A few inches away from Jill's stretcher was another stretcher, having a young girl lying on it, whose name Isaacs also knew was Angela Ashford. Just like Jill's face, Angela's face also was full of cuts and bruises and her body was covered by a tarp. Both were still unconscious, not sensing what was going on around them. They were ready to be transported to a hospital, as several ambulances were standing nearby. Isaacs let his hand softly run through Jill's hair, looking at her quietly._

_"Don't worry", Isaacs said, "You'll be just fine." _

_Isaacs thought about how these women didn't have a clue as to what was going to happen to them. Just the way Isaacs liked it. These women didn't know they were going to be at Umbrella's disposal. Hence the reason why one of Umbrella's top scientists was smiling when he was thinking about the potential test subjects these women would become and what sorts of results would come from them. This thought alone made Isaacs smile even more._

* * *

Jill was sitting in a huddled position against one of the walls of the white room, bored of seeing the exact same space she'd seen in what seemed like ages. Her arms were wrapped around her legs, which she'd pulled up. She'd gotten long past crying over her current situation.

How long had she been here? Jill didn't know. It had been a very long time, that was for sure. A very long and tedious time, as there was nothing to do than walk around the room, stand, sit, sigh, cry for help, look at herself in the mirror and repeat the same cycle over and over again. She'd become accostumed to this room. Yep, getting used to seeing the exact same walls every day was the only slight positive point, besides the needle scars healing themselves nicely, about being locked up for what felt like months. It even amazed her that she hadn't become totally and mentally deranged after such a long time.

Questions spooked around in her head. Questions she didn't know the answer to. She knew from her only escape attempt that Umbrella was behind this, but what were they using her for? A new virus? What did they put into her body? Why did it take so long for it to work? And what would happen to her once it did, in fact, work?

Trying to escape had been proven futile, so she stopped trying after a while. It just couldn't be bothered, whatever she tried. From typing in any possible combination she could think of on the little keypad of the keycard lock next to the only door, to trying to reach the air vents that were high on the walls around her; nothing worked for even a bit. So she just gave up after a while, letting the realisation of never getting out sink in.

Jill even had gotten used to wearing the exact same paper gown day in day out. Every day she was forced to walk around in it, having her entire bare body for the world to see. She didn't care about it. At least she wasn't entirely naked, so she was contempt with what she was given. If Umbrella felt the need to dress her this way, then so be it.

The last 4 days had been tiring. Jill started to feel nauseous and the veins on her body had become more visible to the naked eye. She'd also noticed that she was starting to sweat profusely, her entire body becoming clammier with every passing day. Her eyes were all bloodshot when she looked in the mirror and sleeping had become harder to accomplish. Something was definitely wrong, though she didn't know what this something was. So she was just sitting against one of the white walls, having her arms wrapped around her legs.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the one-way window of the room, a man was sitting behind a desk in a dark observation room, the desk having a couple of monitors on it. A few of them showed what the videocameras were recording, while the rest were showing what Jill's mental and physical state was at the time.

"Test subject is stable", the man spoke into a voice recorder, "First signs of mutation are apparent, but no heavy changes yet."

The man, who was named Burton, or Barry Burton for the ones who didn't know him, had been selected to keep an eye on Jill. As his position was a one-man job, he didn't have anyone else to conversate with. So to keep himself entertained, he often solved puzzles in a puzzle pocket book, looking up from it to check if everything was okay every once in a while. But he also spent some time just watching at Jill through the window, often recording his statements and taking a sip from his coffee as he observed her.

But the most exciting part of the job for Barry was seeing women in those flimsy gowns. Umbrella especially made these gowns for their test subjects. This was not only because Umbrella didn't have anything else to dress their experiments in, whether they were male or female, but also because this way, one could easily see if a virus did its work. Having most of the test subject's bare body revealed, Umbrella could quickly notice if an experiment started to mutate, getting into action as soon as the first symptoms of heavy mutation started to show.

This was also the case with Jill Valentine, or 'Project 14', as they used to call her. She was Umbrella's most prominent project. Having her injected with the G-Virus, they had to be extra careful with her. If there was a viral leak, the whole lab needed to be vacated and decomtaminated. Certainly not something they all were waiting for.

Barry just lifted his mug of coffee, which had an Umbrella-logo on it, to his mouth, when William Birkin suddenly came into the room, giving him the scare of his life and almost spilling his coffee.

"Status report", Birkin ordered.

William had been waiting patiently for something to happen to Project 14. But for the duration of 3 weeks, nothing had happened. Normally, a test subject would've showed some symptoms within the first week. William had even tried to develop a cure to the G-Virus, just in case of an emergency, but to no avail. Eventually, he grew tired of waiting and just couldn't take it any longer. He wanted results, and he wanted them right now.

Barry set down his mug and turned his attention to the screens that were showing Jill's mental and physical state. He noticed that she had been exhibiting some symptoms of the G-Virus mutating her, as had been noted by himself earlier, but nothing seriously alarming.

"Some minor first symptoms, sir", Barry replied.

"Good", Birkin said satisfied as he looked up at one of the monitors that showed Jill sitting against the wall.

William was contempt with the way things were progressing. If this project stayed this way, it'd mean that they'd found a way to possibly bring the undead back to life. Finally, this could mean the most important breakthrough in his scientific carreer. Finally, it could all go splendid. Hence the reason why William was smiling. All of his dreams seemed to become true. All this subject needed to do was stay stable and not show any heavier mutations. Only then the project would be a success.

However, that's when suddenly, Birkin saw that Jill turned her head to the left and vomited on the ground. But instead of puke, it was blood she was throwing up. Definitely a sign the virus had caused an internal mutation. Birkin had seen these kind of occurences with all the other test subjects that proceded this one, which all failed miserably, so he was immediately on high alert.

"Oh my God", Birkin said in awe as he knew what came next, "She's mutating right now."

Jill looked horrified at the pool of blood she'd just puked. What the hell was happening to her? All of a sudden, the veins on her body started to swell and her muscles started to convulse. Panicked, she quickly got on her feet and ran towards the mirror, still hoping in vein that there was someone on the other side. Standing in front of the mirror, she began to pound on it in distress. Despite the fact that she wouldn't get any help whatsoever, she never wanted to just give up if there was a slight hope of someone hearing her.

"Let me out!" Jill screamed in despair, "Please, let me out!"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the glass, both Birkin and Barry looked at Jill in horror. Despite the fact that William had seen these kind of mutations before, he still hadn't seen this coming. He hadn't expected the virus to mutate so quickly, regardless of previous dealings with the G-Virus. Now, he had to act rapidly before it'd be too late.

"Gas her", Birkin ordered, "Gas her now."

"What?" Barry muttered.

Birkin quickly left the room. "Just do it", he ordered as he went through the door.

Quickly, Barry pulled out a keyboard from under his desk and pushed a button, hoping for the best. It wasn't the first time an experiment had failed and it would certainly not be the last time this would happen. So the best way to keep these sort of situations at bay was to just gas the test subject in the hopes of finding out more about it. It would be the only way for them to find out what happened to a test subject once it had mutated, or it'd be too dangerous.

"What did you do to me, you son of a bitch?" Jill demanded to know as she was still pounding distressed on the mirror with her fists, wanting to be put out of her misery.

Suddenly, she noticed gas being released into the room through grates in the walls, upsetting her even more. She didn't want her life to end like this. Not now she was Umbrella's prisoner. Her life just didn't deserve to end like this. She'd do anything to get out of this room, even if it meant breaking the glass with her bare hands. So she planned to continue to pound until the glass might break. Only then, she'd be able to escape a horrible scenario and a terrifying death which she didn't want to be a part of. Never would she just give up. She'd always fight.

"Help", Jill cried, tears starting to flow down her face.

As she was standing there, the muscles in her torso and arms suddenly started to quickly increase in size. Feeling her skin tighten, she felt like she'd been in the sun for too long, but that wasn't the case here. It felt like she was torn apart, causing her to scream in agony. In a few minutes, her skin became so tight that it seemed like it would tear open at any moment, the pain becoming too unbearable for her to carry.

Slowly, Jill collapsed to her knees while desperately trying to hold onto the mirror, the pain forcing her to descend down to the floor. Her hands slid down the smooth surface of the mirror, until the pain made her let go. She felt her eyelids becoming heavier by the minute as she sat there on the floor. It felt like every fiber in her body was being stretched to the max. Excruciating mind-numbing searing pain it was. And it only became worse.

After a while, the pain had reached its limits and the rest just felt numb as Jill's skin tore open and her muscles started to grow out of the wounds. Jill fell down to the floor, aching as blood streamed down her body, creating big red spots on the gown she was wearing. In her lying position, she tried to reach for the door by stretching out her hand towards it, but to no avail.

"Help me!" Jill screamed in soaring unbearable pain as she laid on the floor, curling her body into a ball while her voice got lower and lower.

A snap could be heard after a moment, coming from the fiber string around her chest that was holding her blood-soaked gown into place. As Jill's muscles grew hard and quickly, the gown she was wearing just became too small for her body. So the string around her chest just snapped like a twig, cutting loose her gown and letting it fall to the floor. Looking at her right hand, Jill saw talons growing out of the fingertops and her skin and exposed muscles starting to turn greyish.

Jill began to scream to her heart's content and cried her eyes out, lying there naked. The pain was just too unbearable for her to handle. Even beyond that, as everything just felt numb. She just couldn't feel anything anymore. Sleepiness overtook her as gas continued to pour into the room. An inescapable sleepiness.

Eventually, Jill began to feel dizzy as everything around her began to spin, closing her eyes while being knocked out by the gas. Swollen muscles were showing through her skin, still growing in size as a pool of blood began to surround her on the floor. Damn Umbrella and their experiments, but now there was nothing she could do about it now. She was mutating and she knew instinctively that she probably didn't have much longer to live. So the last things she remembered as her eyes were spiraling into a total abyss, were the good times she had in the life she'd been given.

* * *

**Author's note: I'm sorry. I'm really sorry for Jill's demise. But I just felt like there was no way to go with her storyline anymore other than what you've just read in this chapter. And unfortunately for all of the Jill-fans, this chapter will be her last one. From now on, I'll be solely focusing on K-Mart's and Alice's storylines. But don't worry. Umbrella will be named and seen throughout this story. You'll find out exactly what they were and are up to.**

**As for Jill's storyline, I was inspired by the endscene of the 1st movie in which Alice wakes up in the abandoned hospital. I even copied the exact same hospital gown she was wearing during that scene. But as you've all read, I've changed some details such as the fact that Jill stays confined within Umbrella's facility and the involvement of the G-Virus.**

**So I hope you're still willing to review this chapter, even though it's a tragic one. Reviews and comments give me the willpower to write more, so please keep reviewing. Thanks in advance. **


	15. First Contact

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

K-Mart slowly opened her eyes, waking up from her unconsciousness. Everything seemed hazy and distant, but the first thing she knew for sure was that she had an excruciating headache. She also noticed was that she was lying on a dark brown fabric couch, her head lying on a pillow. Something soft and white was covering her.

She wondered what had happened to her, since the last thing she remembered was staggering through the snow, or rather crawling. Since her leg had been severely wounded, she had no use for it anymore. So she'd slowly moved forward by using a stick, which was a dangerous thing to do since zombies could be drawn to her quicklier that way. Occasionally, she'd fallen into the snow, making her clothes all wet. She just had been so weak that she didn't care anymore whether her clothes were messed up or not.

However, the very last thing she remembered was reaching a building in the middle of the woods. She hadn't known what it was yet, as it was dark, but she just had a gut feeling that she was going to be safe there. Next thing she knew, everything had gone black.

And now she was lying on a couch, having an agonizing headache. She laid the back of her hand on her forehead, feeling if she had a fever. Fortunately, her forehead wasn't warm enough, so she laid her hand back onto the couch. She noticed that she was still wearing the same clothes as before. But only now she felt incredibly cold and wet. She looked down and saw a white blanket covering her. Her head was lying on a pillow, which made lying on the couch comfortable.

K-Mart was wondering who had lain her on this couch and who had covered her with the blanket. Furthermore, she was wondering whose house she was in. So she looked around, trying to figure out where she'd ended up.

Next to the couch stood a table, made of wood. K-Mart didn't know what sort of wood it was, but it looked nice. The table was surrounded by 2 comfy-looking chairs and the couch she was lying on. A red carpet was lying underneath the table, covering the light wooden floor. A fireplace was lit on, logs crackling. The walls of the room were made of wooden logs, making K-Mart feel relaxed. At least it looked like a well-kept house.

All things in the room felt warm and loving, so K-Mart made herself comfortable as she guessed that she probably didn't have to worry about where she'd ended up. The person living here certainly did his or her best to properly welcome this cabin's guests. And this person seemingly also made sure his or her guests were feeling comfortable.

Suddenly, a door opened. Frightened, K-Mart immediately turned her attention to the door. Expecting the unexpected, she focused on who was coming through the door. But instead of someone who'd possibly hurt her, she saw a very handsome young man coming into the room, carrying a glass of water in his hand. At least, she thought he was handsome.

The man was wearing blue jeans, a zipped-open brown leather jacket, revealing an army green shirt. In an instant, K-Mart's fear subsided. Rather than being scared, her eyes widened and her heart nearly stopped. This man didn't look frightening. No, in her opinion, this man looked rather like a stud.

"Thank God you're alive", the man said relieved as he saw K-Mart staring at him.

K-Mart thought about how arousing his voice sounded as he said that, not taking her cautious eyes from the man as he was setting down the glass of water on the table. Whoever this man was and whatever this man did to her, he probably had good intentions with it. Somehow, she got the strange feeling that he could be trusted. So she couldn't stay frightened of what she thought was this extremely cute guy.

As K-Mart saw the man sitting down in one of the chairs that was surrounding the table in front of the couch, K-Mart decided to speak by asking him a question. Somehow, she didn't seem to be feeling the T-Virus anymore and she wasn't as sick as she was before, which made her curious to know what this man had done to her. K-Mart just wanted to know what was going on. And the best way to know this was to just start asking questions towards this man.

"Where am I?" K-Mart asked.

"In a snow cabin in the middle of the woods", the man answered, again with his beautiful voice, "You don't remember how you got here?"

"All I remember is staggering through the snow and reaching this cabin", K-Mart explained, "And then everything went black."

The man nodded. Having gone through what she probably had gone through, he couldn't blame this girl for not remembering how she got inside his cabin. K-Mart began to move, trying to sit up.

As if he was sitting on needles, the man quickly stood up from his chair, walked over to K-Mart and crouched down next to her.

"Don't move too much", the man warned, "I've just bandaged your leg."

As K-Mart tried to sit up, she indeed felt a bandage around her leg. So not only had this man taken care of her, he also had bandaged her leg. Normally, the people in this infected world only cared about themselves. But this guy was different. She could just feel it by looking at him.

The pillow her head had been on now felt really comfortable against her back. The man took the glass of water from the table and offered it to her.

"Here", the man said, "I figured you'd be thirsty."

K-Mart took the glass from the man. "Thanks", she said and she began to drink.

After K-Mart had finished her water, she gave the glass back to the man, who in turn set the object back on the table. The man himself returned to his chair.

"What happened?" K-Mart asked while the man sat down in his chair.

"I found you unconscious on the floor", the man answered, "And from the bite marks on your leg I figured you'd been bitten by a zombie."

K-Mart nodded. She remembered being bitten by an infected wolf earlier that day. As if it were mere seconds ago, she could still feel the wolf's sharp teeth sinking into her leg. The pain she had after that moment only had become worse and worse. But now that she was lying on the couch and talking to the man, she didn't feel anything, which made her confused about what happened to her. How come she didn't feel the pain of being infected? Did this man do this? And if so, how?

"But how come I don't feel anything?" she asked.

"Because I injected you with the Anti-Virus", the man explained.

"What's the Anti-Virus?" K-Mart wanted to know.

"A cure to the T-Virus", the man answered. "I treated you with it, because I didn't want you to become one of them."

"Besides", the man added, "I always keep a case full of it in my safe, in case of an emergency."

K-Mart nodded, but what she couldn't understand was how much this man knew about the T-virus and how he got the Anti-Virus in his possession. Was he a former employee of Umbrella, the company she'd heard a lot about from Carlos, L.J. and Claire? Or was he just lucky enough to be in the possession of the Anti-Virus?

There were so many questions she wanted to ask this handsome stranger, but the first thing she wanted to know was his name. She figured this man to have a cool sounding name as he looked like the type to have one. But she just wanted to know for sure.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Leon Scott Kennedy", the man replied. "But you can call me Leon. What's your name?"

"My name's K-Mart", K-Mart replied.

Leon raised an eyebrow. K-Mart noticed it.

"I know", K-Mart added. "I just didn't like my previous name."

Leon understood. Maybe something terrible had happened to her that made her change her name. Something she didn't want to talk about and kept secret to the world.

"How did you get the Anti-Virus?" K-Mart asked.

"I used to be a cop", Leon explained, "So when we were busy dealing with the million or so illegal drug smuggling cases, a few years after the Outbreak, I stumbled upon this case with the Anti-Virus. After all hell broke loose in town, I took my chances and bolted out of there, taking the case with me. I know it was selfish of me to keep this cure for myself, but I thought it wasn't going to matter anyway whether I kept the Anti-Virus for my own since everyone had been infected anyway."

K-Mart understood. Had she been presented with opportunity to get a case full of the Anti-Virus, she probably would have done the same exact thing. So she couldn't blame Leon for being selfish.

"Survival of the fittest", K-Mart responded.

"Right", Leon agreed.

Suddenly, K-Mart noticed a walkie-talkie hanging from Leon's belt. She couldn't believe that she'd missed this gadget before. But then all she was focusing on was this man's cute face and muscled chest. Enough to be distracted from...

But now she saw the communication device hanging from his belt, just waiting to be used. Maybe she could reach Alice and tell her what happened to Claire, even though it'd be hard to tell her. K-Mart herself wasn't even ready to accept Claire's death entirely yet. But now she just wanted to make contact with Alice, if that was possible. Because there was no telling if Alice had acquired such a device on her own. But then there were possibly many different people who she'd call.

"Is that a walkie-talkie?" she asked.

"Yeah", Leon answered.

"Can you use it?" K-Mart continued to ask.

"I tried calling my old police buddies", Leon explained, "But they all didn't answer."

"Who didn't you call then?" K-Mart concluded to ask.

"An old friend", Leon replied.

"Well, you better call him then", K-Mart requested. If they had a chance to get rescued, then why not take it?

With that, Leon got up from his chair, grabbed his walkie-talkie and turned the knob on the top, which was used for finding the right frequency. Luckily for him, he knew exactly which frequency to choose. After he found the right one, Leon raised the walkie-talkie to his ear, ready to talk to his old friend.

* * *

**Author's note: After all the deaths and misery of the past chapters, I'd figured you guys to be happy with a new addition to the story in the form of yet another character from the games. I hope you guys to be up for learning more about Leon, because there's a lot about his past waiting to be told. **

**Also, if you're wondering who this 'old friend' is and whether or not K-Mart and Leon are going to be rescued, I promise you'll get your answers in the next chapter, which is going to be an emotional one. However, don't worry about someone dying, because death will not be a part of this story for a long time.**

**So I hope you're as excited to read the next chapter as I am. In the mean time, I very much appreciate it if you'd drop me a review for this chapter. I'll be a happy person if you'd let me know what you think of this story. Thanks in advance.**


	16. Lost Hope

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

_For Chris Redfield, the worst thing of being arrested was the stainless steel handcuffs he had to wear whenever he was escorted to the interrogation room. It wasn't that he cared about being locked up, though he preferred many of his lock-ups to last two nights at it's maximum, but he hated wearing these irritating and mindnumbing things on his wrists._

_Especially his skin didn't seem to like it, as it had the habit of turning red and itchy where the handcuffs touched it. Hence the reason why Chris didn't feel comfortable as he was, once again, lead out into the police station on his way to the interrogation room._

_Apparently, someone wanted to speak to him. Who it was, Chris didn't know. All he knew, was that it had to be important. Otherwise, he wouldn't have to wear these dreadful handcuffs, which he only wore if he was going to be questioned or visited. He had enough experience with the police system to know that kind of stuff._

_Chris didn't even remember when he was arrested. All he remembered from last night was hanging out with some of his friends and the next thing he knew, he woke up in jail this morning with a huge hangover. Which is why he was curious about who it was that wanted to talk to him. Maybe his sister would bail him out once again, maybe someone else wanted to speak to him. But whoever it was, he had to come with an escorting officer as he passed by several policemen, who all gave him annoyed looks as if he'd done something wrong._

_Eventually, Chris arrived inside the interrogation room, where he had to sit down on a chair and one end of his handcuffs was attached to an iron ring on the table in front of him._

_"Wait here", his escorting officer said and walked out of the room, leaving him there alone. _

_Slightly annoyed, Chris looked at his free wrist, which had a reddish hue and was itchy, as he tried to remember how the police had gotten to him and his friends last night. However, before he could remember anything, he noticed someone taking a seat at the opposite side of the table. Someone who apparently was a man. Nevertheless, Chris, knowing who it was, ignored him and still tried to remember the night before as he scratched his free wrist. That's when he heard the man sighing as if he also was annoyed by Chris' presence._

_"What have you done this time, Chris?" a familiar voice spoke._

_"I haven't the foggiest, Lee", Chris answered the man while he still was looking at his wrist._

_The man rolled his eyes and sighed again. "At least have the decency to look at me while I'm talking to you. And you know it's Leon", Leon said._

_Chris looked up at Leon and saw the tiredness on his face as if he probably hadn't slept all night, though he knew this expression was because Leon rather didn't want to see him locked up again. In fact, he hated seeing his best friend at the police station at all since Leon'd already told him a thousand times that his behavior wasn't leading him anywhere. Deep in his heart, Chris knew this. But he was also stubborn and an alcoholic like his mom used to be. Which is why he committed robberies and got arrested time after time after time._

_"Okay, so what do you want to know?" Chris asked Leon, "Did I commit a robbery once again? I probably did. So what?"_

_"'So what'?" Leon asked, "Don't you realise how serious this is, Chris? If you keep on doing this, no boss is ever going to hire you because of your track record. Or even worse, you could end up dead in the gutter somewhere. Do you really want this to happen?"_

_"So what if I do?" Chris said, "It's my life and I can do with it whatever I want."_

_"But don't you see that this life is going to lead you nowhere?" Leon asked._

_"No", Chris said out loud, "And if you haven't got anything else to say, then leave me the hell alone. I don't want any of your advice."_

_"No, not before I show you this", Leon said as he reached for something underneath the table._

_Next, Leon took out a big furled piece of paper and proceeded to straighten it out on the table. _

_As curious as he was, Chris looked at the piece of paper and saw that it was some sort of advertisement for something called the 'U.B.C.S.', whatever that was. At the top of the advertisement, it read "Want some excitement in your life?", along with "Join the U.B.C.S.!" at the bottom. In the center was a black silhouette of a soldier's head in front of a symbol in the shape of an umbrella, which Chris knew was part of the Umbrella Corporation. At first glance, it seemed to be some sort of advertisement for the army or something. _

_However, all in all it didn't seem to be that interesting to Chris as he preferred the life he was living now. If he wasn't an alcoholic and if he didn't like to party, then maybe this advertisement could've been worthwhile. But now he wasn't really interested, simply because he liked the sweet life he was living and didn't want anyone to interfere with it, especially not Leon. _

_To Chris, Leon seemed like a nice guy, even for a cop-in-training, but every once in a while he could also be very annoying too. Such as now, when he's trying to supposedly 'help' him with his crazy ideas about reaching a goal in life. Simply because reaching a goal in life was the last thing Chris had on his mind, a mind that enjoyed drinking and partying, he just didn't need Leon's sympathy or help. In his opinion, Leon just simply didn't understand squat about the kind of pressure he is under. Which is why he wasn't at all interested in this U.B.C.S. stuff. For all Chris cared, Leon just needed to get lost with his so-called 'help'._

_"So what do you think?" Leon asked, "This is what you've always wanted to be as a kid, right?"_

_"Okay, so you automatically assume that I still want to do this?" Chris replied angrily._

_"You don't?" Leon asked as he already noticed that Chris was angry about his attempts to help him._

_"Are you serious?" Chris shouted, "No way I'm just going to go to Raccoon City to join them. Just no way."_

_"But...", Leon wanted to begin his sentence, but he was already cut off by Chris._

_"And before you say anything else, I just want you to know that I don't want your help. Ever. You understand?" Chris shouted towards the cop-in-training opposite of him._

_A baffled Leon just couldn't understand Chris. Didn't he see that this life of alcohol, parties and bank robberies was just useless? Didn't he want a respectable job with which he could earn an honest living? Didn't he want a respectable life in which he didn't have run-ins with the police on a daily basis? Didn't he want someone to help him at all with his troubles?_

_Hence the reason why Leon was confused about Chris. In the cop's opinion, he didn't belong in a jail cell. No, he totally belonged somewhere else. Somewhere where he could fulfill his dreams and become someone to be respected. Hence the reason why Leon didn't understand why Chris absolutely refused to accept his help._

_However, before Leon could say another word, there was a knock on the door. Turning around, he saw Chris' sister Claire standing in the doorway. Apparently, she'd been called by his colleague to visit Chris._

_"Excuse me, but I'm here to pick up my brother", Claire interrupted Chris' and Leon's heated conversation._

_"You bailed him out? Again?" Leon asked surprised._

_"Unfortunately, yes", Claire sighed._

_"So how about it?" Chris said, still with a little bit of anger in his voice and hinting at Leon to get his colleague and unlock his handcuffs from the table._

_"Coming right up", Leon sighed as he got up from his chair and walked out of the interrogation room._

_After Leon left, Claire turned her face towards her brother. "You know he's only trying to help."_

_However, Chris was still angry as he huffed and turned his face away from his sister. He didn't need any help, even if it was from Leon. Or from his sister, for that matter. Chris felt just fine with the life he was living and he didn't need anyone to interrupt this life. He didn't need anyone to 'help' him, because in his opinion, he could take care of himself just perfectly. And that's why he was angry at Leon, because he had no business meddling in his life._

* * *

Chris was standing behind the helm of a big white yacht he was driving.

Taking the decision to go to Alaska was the easy part. Actually going there was the hardest. Chris had already realised early on that his jeep wouldn't last such a long journey. Or at least, not with gas stations being out of fuel. So that's why he, together with Alice, had swum to the harbor of San Diego a few hours ago in order to find a boat that could take them to Alaska. If they just were lucky enough to find a boat which was filled to the rim with fuel, then they had the chance to go to Alaska on a single trip alone.

So they'd began to check every boat in the harbor, looking for the right one. Eventually, they found a big white yacht with even enough fuel to bring them to Tokyo if they wanted to. Having extra gallons of fuel on board, they both figured out that this boat had already been prepped for a big journey.

The stockroom and fridge on board of this yacht had been stocked with enough food for 3 months if they shared everything together. Apparently, the owner of this boat had intended to escape the undead city with it, spending the rest of his or her life on sea. But they had never made it that far, presumably because they were attacked by zombies. Though, bad fortune for him or her had turned into good fortune for Alice and himself.

Chris was standing behind the helm in the bridge, steering the yacht towards Alaska. It had been 3 days since he'd found out his sister had flown a helicopter to this land of the midnight sun, and now he was determined to go there to find her. Alice, a woman he'd met 3 days ago near an old Umbrella-facility, was sleeping in one of the bedrooms on board of the ship as it was already night. Taking turns, they each took place behind the helm and now it was Chris' turn. Luckily for him, he already had driven many boats and ships during his time with the U.B.C.S, so this wasn't a hard job to be done.

Suddenly, Chris heard a voice, coming from his vest pocket. "Come in, Chris", the voice said, "Do you read me?"

To Chris, the voice definitely sounded familiar, though he couldn't place where he knew it from. But it at least meant that that someone was still alive, which was worth getting into contact with him. Curious, Chris reached into his pocket and took out a walkie-talkie. It was only fortunate the device was waterproof, otherwise it wouldn't have survived the dive into San Diego's harbour. He raised his walkie-talkie to his ear, intending to find who was on the other end.

"This is Chris", Chris said, "Who's this?"

"This is Leon", the voice on the other side said, "Do you understand me?"

"Yeah, I understand you", Chris said, "Is that really you?"

Chris was astounded by the fact that his best friend was still alive. And that was only because they haven't exactly started out as best friends. At first, they were at each other's throats all the time. But as time went by, they became the best of friends, especially since Leon had suggested he'd join the U.B.C.S., which had been a very good decision. Back in those days, Leon had even pursuaded Chris by suggesting that he'd join U.B.C.S. too, which he eventually did. And that was only because he just couldn't just let Chris go without a fight and because he could help him in becoming a respectful man.

However, after the Outbreak, they'd lost touch with each other, simply because Raccoon City had been nuked to the ground and the U.B.C.S. got scattered all over the country. Hence the reason why Chris wasn't even sure whether or not he was imagining things as he heard Leon's voice through the walkie-talkie.

However, now Chris knew it for certain. Leon Scott Kennedy was still alive. The friend he'd lost several years ago was on the other end of the walkie-talkie in his hand, still living and breathing. Happiness overtook him now he knew this. Finally, after so many years, he had the chance to stay in contact with his friend.

Nevertheless, the reason why Leon'd made contact with him was still unclear. Of course Chris figured he wanted to talk about how he'd survived the apocalypse, but what other reason could he have to make contact? It must've been something important, of that Chris was sure. But what that important message was, sparked his curiosity.

"Why are you calling me?" a curious Chris asked.

"Just wanted to check if at least someone survived the infection", Leon said, "How are you holding up?"

"Can't complain", Chris said, "How are you?"

"The same", Leon said while K-Mart was looking at him.

"Let me talk to him", K-Mart requested.

"What?" Leon asked.

Leon was confused about the reason K-Mart wanted to talk to Chris. What kind of stuff could she have to tell Chris? He'd just made contact with his long lost friend. Enough reason for them both to tell each other their stories. So there was no way he'd just let this girl ruin this moment by giving her the walkie-talkie. It had been 5 years, after all, since he'd lost his friend and now he had the chance to talk to him again after all those years.

But there was also this curiosity that wanted to know what K-Mart had to tell Chris. So it was hard to choose. Would Leon just hand the walkie-talkie to this girl or should he just keep the walkie-talkie to himself and talk to his friend? However, in the end he made his decision.

"Let me talk to him", K-Mart asked again.

"Someone wants to talk to you", a slightly disappointed Leon said to Chris.

"Put her through", Chris said while Leon gave the walkie-talkie to K-Mart, curious to know what she had to tell.

K-Mart raised the walkie-talkie to her ear. "Hello?" she asked.

"Hello", Chris said back.

"Is your last name Redfield?" K-Mart asked.

In the 3 years that K-Mart had been in her convoy, every once in a while she heard Claire talking about her brother Chris Redfield. Though not many was said about him, Claire did mention that she didn't know where he was and that she didn't need to know. For reasons unknown, Claire just didn't want to face her brother. That's why she was pissed when K-Mart found a photo of Chris, which used to be clipped to a sun visor in Claire's Hummer.

K-Mart had never seen Claire that angry before. But from that moment on she understood that talking about Chris was off limits, unless Claire wanted to. But what she couldn't understand, though, was why she just didn't want to talk about the subject. Had she herself had a brother who was still alive, K-Mart would've talked about him alot and put much effort into finding him. That's why now she took the opportunity to talk to him and maybe figure out what the hell was going on between him and Claire.

"Excuse me?" Chris asked, astounded by the fact that this girl knew exactly what his last name was. Maybe she knew where Claire was.

"Is your last name Redfield?" K-Mart asked again.

"Yes it is", Chris said curiously, "Why?"

"Because I used to know Claire", K-Mart answered.

"'Used to know Claire'? What do you mean?" Chris asked, hoping it wouldn't mean what he was fearing it to mean.

For all Chris knew, Claire was still alive. So he was hoping that this girl would tell him she still was. But there was also the possibility that she was dead, though he doubted that was the case. If Claire was dead, he'd somehow feel it.

But now he didn't feel anything, which was maybe because Claire was still alive. He wouldn't have searched for her for 5 years, in order for him to find out she'd died. It just wouldn't be fair, so he kept holding onto his hopes of finding his sister alive and kicking some undead's butt. He wouldn't just let his mission of finding her fail. Not now he was so close to finding his long lost sister.

With that, K-Mart bowed her head down as she was thinking about finding Claire lying in the snow outside. Dead. She thought about the feelings she had when she found her lifeless body there, and about the many tears she'd cried when she was bowed down over Claire's body. How was she ever going to tell this to Chris? Did she have the courage to put him through what she herself was going through? She almost began to cry again.

Leon noticed K-Mart's demeanor and walked away to get her something to drink.

"She's dead", K-Mart decided to tell Chris as she began to sob.

Chris blinked. Was he truly hearing what he was hearing? "What?" he asked, just to know for sure.

"We were ambushed by a pack of infected wolves, just a few hours after we'd arrived here", K-Mart began to tell, "And they attacked us. I barely made it out alive, but Claire..."

K-Mart started to cry. Swallowing her tears, she continued with her story. "She didn't make it", she told Chris.

Chris slammed his fist on the control panel he was standing behind. He knew for certain that this girl was telling him the truth, because he knew Leon well enough to know that he wouldn't just hand the walkie-talkie over to some untrustworthy person. And if this wasn't the case, then Leon wasn't a very reliable judge of character anymore and Chris knew for certain that this wasn't true.

This girl was telling him the truth about his sister, that he knew for certain. So an angry Chris all of a sudden became very sad about the fact that he couldn't have been there earlier to save his sister from death. All of his hopes and dreams of finding his sister alive came shattering down on him. Tears were forming in his eyes, but he kept his emotions in tone. He wouldn't just resolve to crying. Not now he needed to be strong.

"I'm sorry", K-Mart sobbed, "I'm so, so sorry."

Chris fought to keep his tears back. He figured this girl was the one that had gone to Alaska with Claire in the hopes of finding safety. That meant that this girl had also met Alice.

"Do you want to talk to Alice?" Chris asked K-Mart out of the blue.

Chris was hoping for some time alone now that he knew his sister was dead. He just didn't want anyone to be a comfort to him right now. His sister was dead and he just needed some time to process this shocking news. That's why he wanted to hand the walkie-talkie over to Alice. With her talking to K-Mart, he had the opportunity to go back to the helm and be alone for a while.

"What?" K-Mart asked through her tears, surprised that Chris seemed to know Alice. Meanwhile, Leon came back into the room with a glass of water in his hand. As he sat down the glass on the table, Chris replied through the walkie-talkie.

"You know her, right?" Chris asked, "You've met her in the desert?"

"Yeah", K-Mart solemnly answered.

"I'll go and get her", Chris said. With that, he put the boat on autopilot and walked away.

In the meantime, Leon had crouched down next to K-Mart, and had lain his arm around her as a comfort. He just wanted to be there in her time of need right now, as no one should suffer alone.

A crying K-Mart suddenly dug her face into his shoulder and swung her arm with the walkie-talkie in her hand around his neck, wrecked. Softly, Leon laid down his hand on K-Mart's back, trying to calm her down.

After a while, K-Mart looked back up and into Leon's deepblue eyes, still with tears in her own eyes. Leon looked into hers and just as he was about to say something, she suddenly kissed him on the mouth. In her emotional state right now, K-Mart just felt the need to kiss Leon.

As their kiss broke apart, Leon looked at K-Mart, shocked. K-Mart was shocked as well, but it felt like a good shock. A shock both of them wanted to experience again. So they leaned in and kissed each other again. Only this time, both Leon and K-Mart gave in to their kiss. And it felt really good for them both.

* * *

**Author's note: Ever since I've written the chapter in which Claire died, I just felt like Chris deserved to know what happened to his sister. I couldn't just let Claire's death go in vain, so I used her death to further Chris' storyline in this chapter. Whatever he is going to do now that he knows that his sister has died, he's going to be pretty angry at the ones who did this to her. And I'm not talking about the wolves here. You'll find out exactly what his next plan is going to be in the following chapters. **

**As for K-Mart and Leon, there has been a lot of development between those two. I hope you're going to like the new direction I'm going to take with them.**

**As of now, you've just read the 1st part of this story. The 2nd part is going to take place 2 months into the future and it'll be much longer than the 1st part. So be prepared for the 2nd part of this story as it's going to bring you more twisted turns and surprising revelations than the 1st. I'm also hoping that you'll be kind enough to review this chapter as it'll keep me writing. So thanks in advance for your reviews and comments. **


	17. Two Months Later

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

_A tear was in his eye, but he quickly wiped it away. He just didn't want to think about what he'd just heard. He just wanted to focus on driving the yacht. He just wanted his sisters' death to be erased from his memory. He just wanted nothing else but to be alone. Alone in all of his misery, without anyone interfering with it._

_Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. He, however, didn't respond._

_"Chris?" Alice's voice sounded through the door, "It's me, Alice."_

_Chris kept silent. He didn't want anyone to pity him since his sister had died. He just wanted to be alone. What good would it be if anyone comforted him right now? It'd only make the grief even worse. And that was exactly the last thing Chris wanted right now. That's why he wanted to be alone. If it was just him, the grieving process wasn't that hard. But when he threw someone else into the mix, when he'd let someone comfort him, it'd just get worse. His eyes were already a little watery, so he didn't want them to overflow with tears by allowing Alice to comfort him. Not now._

_"Look, I know what happened", Alice said while she kept knocking on the door, "K-Mart told me, so please let me in."_

_The emptiness Chris was feeling in his heart seemed to become bigger by every knock on the door. It had been 15 minutes since he'd heard the terrible news and all he wanted was for everyone to just leave him alone. _

_Alice just didn't understand what was going on with him. As far as Chris knew, she never had to deal with losing someone she deeply cared about. That's why she couldn't possibly understand what he was going through. There was just no way he was going to let her in and comfort him, because she just didn't know squat about his emotions right now. She didn't know anything about it, which is why he wasn't planning on letting her comfort him._

_But the knocking continued, which eventually got on his nerves. This wasn't just a woman who'd just give up. The more Alice knocked on the door, the more annoyed Chris became. Hence the reason why, after a while, he'd decided to let her in anyway. In his opinion, the best way to shut her up was to just let her into the cabin with him. Someone else being with him would cause him to cry, but he didn't care. If opening the door was the only way for Alice to shut up, then so be it. _

_Letting go of the steering wheel, Chris walked towards the door. Opening it, he looked right into Alice's blue eyes._

_"What?" Chris asked annoyed._

_"Are you alright?" Alice asked._

_"Of course I'm alright", Chris said angrily, "Don't you see it?"_

_With this, Chris walked back towards the steering wheel of the yacht with Alice following him into the cabin. _

_Alice could tell by the look on Chris' angry face that he wasn't alright at all. It had been a few minutes ago that she'd heard from K-Mart that Claire had been found dead and she just wanted to know whether Chris was doing okay. _

_If there was one person to know what it feels like to lose someone who you deeply cared about, then it'd be Alice herself since she'd also lost Carlos to the undead. It just felt like her and Chris' situation were similar as they both lost someone they loved and cared deeply about, though Chris was going through emotions right now when it'd been a while for Alice. So she just had the need to be with Chris in his time of need right now. _

_Even though Chris was angry at her for interrupting him in his grieving process, she knew him well enough to know that he eventually wouldn't keep this anger up. That's why she wanted to be with him in order to offer some comfort._

_"Chris...", Alice began to say, but Chris cut her off._

_"I don't have to tell you anything", Chris grumbled._

_Alice felt like this wasn't the right moment to start a conversation with Chris, even though she wanted to be there for him so badly. But now that he was angry and grief-stricken, it made Alice realise that this wasn't the right moment. It made her remember Carlos' death, which was only a few days ago. When he'd died, she also didn't want anyone to be a comfort to her. Everybody would just made the grief even worse. Which was why she was happy that she'd let Claire and the rest of the convoy leave towards Alaska. _

_After Claire and the kids had gone to Alaska, Alice finally had time to grief over her losses. Finally, she had time to think about the damage she'd caused to the lives of many people. Finally, she had the time to think about getting revenge against Isaacs and the rest of Umbrella, since they were mostly the cause for the destruction of the human race._

_However, Alice could also relate to Chris. It was understandable that Chris wanted to be alone since he was grief-stricken about his sister and his sister alone. That's why Alice started to turn around as she began to walk away. She was no good to Chris right now and she knew it. She just had to accept that Chris wanted to be alone right now and she had to respect that. So it was just best to leave him alone and come back later._

_Yet as Alice wanted to go through the door, she heard the soft sobbing of the man behind her. The soft sobbing and sniffling and crying of a man who'd just lost his precious sister, who had probably been the only family member he had left in this entire undead and destroyed world. It finally seemed like Chris had broken down, which was what Alice had already expected. _

_Hearing Chris sob behind her, Alice slowly turned around and walked over to Chris. She walked back to the man who seemed to have lost it all as she saw him crying over his losses, tears streaming down his cheeks and his head bowed down on the steering wheel._

_"She's dead", Chris sobbed through his tears, "She's dead and there's nothing I could've done to prevent it."_

_Alice laid a hand on Chris' shoulder as he was crying his heart out. She was hoping to comfort him as it'd be very hard for him to let go of his grief. To her, Claire was the kind of woman, next to Jill, who she'd really looked up to, even though they'd only met each other 3 days prior. Not ever had she met such a tough leader and powerful woman. But now Claire was dead, and also for Alice, there wasn't a single thing she could've done to prevent her death from happening. It was just a fact she needed to live with, even though it was a hard thing to do. _

_Alice could also relate to Chris. Losing his sister was probably the worst thing that had ever happened to him. After so much time he'd put into finding her, it seemed only now that it was all for nothing. A seemingly everlasting quest that had stopped so suddenly. Losing Claire was definitely something that had gotten right down to Chris' core. A deep core, where it seemed impossible to get out of. That Alice knew for sure._

_"They did this", Chris sobbed all of a sudden._

_"What? Who?" Alice asked, curious about what Chris meant._

_"Umbrella", Chris replied, turning his head towards her, tears still streaming down his angry face, "You were right. They are bastards."_

_"Is that why you've changed course?" Alice asked._

_"Yeah", Chris confirmed Alice's question, putting as much force into his voice as he could, "They need to pay, no matter how."_

_Alice understood Chris completely. She also wanted to get revenge against Umbrella, which was why she was glad that Chris seemed to share her opinion that Umbrella needed to be banished from the earth. Not that she was happy about the cause of all of this. No way she was happy to see Chris in his miserable state after the loss of his much beloved sister. _

_However, with Chris on her side, it'd be easier for Alice to take on the Umbrella Corporation. And not only that, but also the fact that Chris had possibly turned his grief into anger, instead of possibly attempting suicide or something else because of it, made getting even with the corporation easier to accomplish. Not that Claire's death had a positive outcome for Chris, not at all, but it did help getting Alice's message through to him._

_So with revenge in both of their minds, they began to make their way towards Tokyo, waves crashing under them._

* * *

Soft breathing could be heard as Alice was sleeping on a couch in the yacht's cabin.

It had only been 2 months ago that she'd met Chris Redfield, a man who was determined to search for his long lost sister. But ever since K-Mart had told him that his sister had died, he'd become a changed man. A man filled with revenge. That was why they've changed course in order to go to Tokyo. Chris just wanted to confront the ones who'd let the virus, that killed his sister, escape and Alice couldn't blame him. After all, the way he was told that his sister was dead must've been a big shock to him. A shock so big that getting revenge against Umbrella seemed to be the only way to process that loss.

After 2 months, they were still going straight on to Tokyo as their yacht splashed through the waves of the Pacific and Alice was sleeping in one of the cabins. She was so deep asleep, that she didn't hear her name being called.

"Alice!" Chris called her, but she didn't wake up.

Soon, Chris came inside the cabin and found Alice sleeping. So he decided to wake her up by calling her name again.

"Alice!" Chris woke her up.

Alice slowly opened her eyes. "What?" she groggily asked.

"You have to see this", Chris said and with that, he walked out of the cabin again.

Alice rubbed her eyes vigorously, and slowly got up. Stretching, she steadily made her way out of the cabin.

Arriving inside the helm, Alice saw something on sea that they were nearing. It looked like a ship, but she couldn't see it clearly enough, as it was at a far distance. So she motioned for Chris to hand over the binoculars, which he was carying around his neck as he was also watching the obstacle that was ahead of them.

When Chris gave her the binoculars, Alice looked through it. Now she saw that it was clearly a cargo ship in the distance. But the thing that was so peculiar about it, was that on the side of the hull, there seemed to be a huge logo. A huge logo of an umbrella.

Realizing they'd found a cargo ship that belonged to the Umbrella Corporation, Alice's day couldn't have gotten brighter. This meant that they could probably loot the ship and possibly threaten the crew on board to take both her and Chris to Tokyo instead of docking in Tokyo's harbor and fighting their way through the zombified streets.

With a surprised face, Alice looked at Chris, who was smiling back. Finally, after 2 months had passed, Chris Redfield had the opportunity to get revenge for his sisters' death. And so far, that was all he needed.

* * *

**Author's note: Are you already curious about what Alice and Chris are going to find on the Umbrella-ship? Too bad, because I'm not going to tell you. However, what I am going to tell you, is that I didn't pick this idea about the ship from the movie. I had already started working on this idea even before I knew there was going to be an actual Umbrella-ship in the movie. Guess Paul Anderson and I were on the same page when we came up with this idea. But what's going to be different from our ideas, is that mine is going to go into a whole other direction than the one in the movie. What these changes are about, you're going to find out in the chapters to come. Just be patient.**

**A lot of time has passed since last chapter, as evidenced by the title of this one. This is because I just didn't want to bore you guys with Chris and Alice's sea adventures. I also wanted to begin a new sub-plot of this story, as I figured you guys to be impatient to read what Chris is going to do with his grief/anger. However, I can probably already tell you that there has to happen some other things first before you're going to read about Chris getting his vengeance. So I hope you guys to bear with me as I continue this story. As I've said before, reviews and comments are highly appreciated and loved. So please keep them going. Thanks in advance. **


	18. What's In A Name?

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

_The logs in the fireplace were still crackling as Leon re-entered the living room, this time with a glass of water he had gotten from the kitchen to provide his guest with. The last time he was in this room, his female guest, who was oddly named K-Mart, was just about to tell Chris something important. Something K-Mart was deeply saddened by, as her demeanor changed the moment she'd revealed that she used to know Claire Redfield, Chris' sister. _

_What this something was, Leon didn't know as he wanted to get his guest something to drink since it seemed like she needed it. He'd figure out what was going on if he'd return. However, once he re-entered the room, he saw K-Mart crying her heart out. From her calm self, she'd changed to a complete wreck in just a few minutes. What shifted within her that got her that way, Leon didn't know. Though he was planning to find out while he walked towards her and sat the glass of water on the table._

_"What?" K-Mart asked through her tears, confused about how Chris seemed to know Alice._

_"You know her, right? You've met her in the desert?" Leon heard Chris say through the device K-Mart was holding._

_"Yeah", K-Mart solemnly answered._

_"I'll go and get her", Chris said as Leon heard him putting the walkie-talkie down and walking away._

_With this, Leon crouched down next to K-Mart's lying position on the dark brown couch. He still wanted to know what exactly had gotten K-Mart from calm to upset, but first he just wanted to be there for her. He just felt like she needed him, and only him, in her moment of need right now, and therefore he wanted to offer her some comfort as he laid his arm around her._

_A crying K-Mart suddenly dug her face into his shoulder and swung her arm with the walkie-talkie in her hand around his neck, wrecked. Tears were flowing down her cheeks as her eyes were red from the many tears she'd cried. She just kept thinking about the moment she thought the world had ended, which was when she'd found Claire's lifeless body in the snow. _

_Somehow, K-Mart still couldn't come to terms with Claire's death. She just couldn't fathom the thought of the woman she'd looked up to the most, being dead. Every moment, K-Mart expected Claire to just show up alive and well. That's how badly K-Mart wanted her death to be erased from her memories. Accepting the reality was just out of the question for her now. She just wanted all of the horrible memories to just get away from her mind. _

_"It's going to be okay", Leon said as he laid down his hand on K-Mart's back, trying to calm her down, "I promise you, it's going to be alright."_

_"You can't know that for sure", K-Mart sobbed through her tears._

_"Of course I do", Leon said, "Just look at me."_

_With that, K-Mart got back up from Leon's shoulder and looked into his deepblue eyes while he looked into hers._

_"That's right", Leon commented, "Now, before..."_

_However, before Leon could finish his sentence, K-Mart suddenly leaned in closer to him and kissed him right on the mouth. In her emotional state right now, she just felt the need to kiss him. It wasn't that she'd only wanted to kiss him, which she'd longed to do for a while now, but K-Mart also wanted to forget all about the horrible things she'd experienced. From losing the helicopter to the ice to being bitten by the most horrible creatures she'd ever seen to losing Claire just a few hours ago, she just wanted to forget about everything._

_As their kiss broke apart, Leon looked at K-Mart, shocked. This wasn't what he'd expected, though it felt good for some strange reason. K-Mart was shocked as well, but it felt like a good shock. A shock both of them wanted to experience again. So they leaned in and kissed each other again. Only this time, both Leon and K-Mart gave in to their kiss. And it felt really good for them both._

_However, before their kiss could last any longer, Leon abruptly pulled out of the kiss, still with a shocked expression on his face._

_"What?" K-Mart sensually said as she leaned in towards Leon again, "Don't you want me?"_

_"Just stop", Leon angrily put K-Mart to a halt, "Just tell me what's going on."_

_To K-Mart, the answer to that question was quite simple. She just wanted to drown all of the horrible things she'd experienced out of her memory by kissing Leon. She didn't want to be reminded of all the bad things and just wanted to focus on Leon. If she'd focus on this guy, then she'd never have to remember losing everyone around her ever again. She didn't want to cry. She just wanted to make new memories. Because if she'd do that, then she'd never be reminded of all the things that had happened before she met him. And that was exactly the reason why she'd kissed Leon as it was the only way to clutch onto a new hope._

_"Just nothing", K-Mart answered and leaned in for another kiss._

_However, Leon stopped her again. This time with more force and determination than before._

_"Just stop and tell me the truth", Leon said, now in a more direct tone._

_With this, K-Mart had already figured out that this guy wouldn't just take some lame excuse as an answer. He wanted to know the truth. K-Mart could see it in his eyes. Eyes belonging to a cop, who'd do anything to get a confession out of her. There was no way he'd buy her lies again, so she turned onto her back and began to cry again. If she ever wanted to forget the terrible things she'd been through, there was just no way than to be honest with Leon. Only then, it'd be possible to move on._

_"I just want to forget", K-Mart sobbed._

_Suddenly, Leon felt even more compassion for K-Mart than he did before. He understood how hard it was for her to keep bringing up the horrible things that happened to her. And now she had the chance to be happy again. No wonder why she'd kissed him. She just wanted to abandon all of the bad memories inside of her and no one could blame her. Slowly, Leon laid back his arm around K-Mart's back as he tried to calm her down again. _

_"Hey, it's alright", Leon soothed her, "I'm not angry."_

_"You're not?" K-Mart asked, looking at him through watery eyes._

_Leon shook his head, indicating that he was okay with K-Mart kissing him. In fact, he even liked it. Ever since he'd found her on the floor of his cabin, Leon had always thought this girl was pretty. But he just didn't want to hurt her feelings by letting her know that. But now that she'd kissed him on the mouth, he didn't mind it at all. And even though he didn't like being used, he definitely was okay with him and K-Mart starting a fling together. He wanted her and she wanted him. That's all he needed to know right now._

_Suddenly, a happy K-Mart began to hug Leon. Even though she still had tears in her eyes, she was happy. Happy to let the horrible things from her past go. Finally, she could forget about everything that had happened._

_"Hello?" Alice's sudden voice crackled out of the walkie-talkie. _

_K-Mart looked at the device she still held in her hand and let go of Leon. Quickly, she raised the walkie-talkie to her ear._

_"Alice?" K-Mart asked while Leon looked on. _

_Leon was content with the way things were going to turn out. He wouldn't just pass along a new hope in his life. Not after all the horrible things he'd been through. He needed someone to have conversations with. Because after living alone for a while, he definitely needed something or someone to occupy his mind. And that someone had turned out to be more then he could've wished for. He wouldn't have to deal with being alone for too long and going crazy anymore. He'd found a new love in his life and he was grateful for it. Grateful like he never was before._

* * *

Soft squeaking could be heard as K-Mart made her way down the wooden stairs inside Leon's snow cabin, dressed in a white robe after she'd woken up in her underwear. She was on her way to Leon, who she knew would be sleeping on the couch in the living room.

K-Mart felt glad about the way Leon was handling their relationship. During the last two months, they'd made a deal that K-Mart was allowed to sleep in Leon's bed, while Leon had offered to sleep on the couch in the living room. This way, they could avoid sleeping together in the same bed, which they both weren't ready for. This was not only because Leon felt like he wasn't going to take advantage of her, but also because K-Mart wasn't entirely ready for it yet as she was still mourning the loss of Claire.

Making her way from the wooden stairs to the living room, K-mart saw Leon sleeping on the couch once she opened the door. As he was only wearing his underwear, K-Mart quickly felt like her heart rate had gotten a few volumes higher. Slowly, she tip-toed her way over to the couch in order to wake Leon with a tender kiss, which was easy since she was barefoot.

Upon reaching the couch, K-Mart silently bent forward, keeping her long blonde hair away from Leon's face. Steadily, her lips made their way towards Leon's soft forehead, until they made contact with the smooth surface. After a while, she withdrew her kiss, hoping it'd woken him up, which seemed to be working after a short while. Slowly, K-Mart saw Leon's eyelids move and after a few seconds, his eyes finally opened, looking into K-Mart's greeting eyes.

"Good morning, handsome", K-Mart whispered.

"Good morning to you to, beautiful", Leon teasingly replied.

Next, Leon started to stretch his muscles. To him, it felt nice to wake up after being kissed on the forehead by a stunning beauty. It really felt like the perfect way to start a day in his opinion. This was not only because he loved K-Mart very much ever since he'd met her, but also because he'd missed waking up like this.

At first, Leon hadn't realised that he loved K-Mart and thought she was just a pretty girl who'd needed saving. But after their first kiss, he'd known for certain that he loved her. There was no doubt about it. And although he had many girlfriends in his past, it always felt good to be loved by someone who you deeply cared about. It always felt special to be with the one you loved. There just was no feeling like it. That's why he was glad to be kissed awake by K-Mart.

"Unconfortable night?" K-Mart asked as she saw Leon stretch.

"Are you kidding?" Leon replied, "This couch and I go way back."

This made them both chuckle as Leon got up from his lying position. K-Mart sat down next to him.

"I'm serious", she continued, "We can trade if you want. The bed for the couch."

"Thanks but no thanks", Leon said politely, "Unless you want to share."

"I thought we made a deal?" K-Mart questioned.

"Yes, but don't you think it's time to take our relationship to the next level?" Leon replied.

Ever since they'd kissed two months ago, K-Mart just couldn't bring herself to put the next step in her relationship with Leon after the loss of Claire, which was why she was glad that Leon was gentle enough to let her sleep in his bed while he crashed on the living room couch in the mean time. She felt like he really respected her feelings and she liked him a lot for it. And although she also felt sorry for him sleeping on such a hard surface, she felt like this was just the right way to handle things in their relationship. Besides, there seemed to be no other way to handle these things, so she felt glad about the deal they'd made.

But now that Leon wanted to take their relationship to the next level, it still felt too early for her. She still hadn't processed Claire's death even though it happened two months ago. And on top of that, she wanted her first time to be special and not to be in a time where she was still grieving over her losses.

"You know I'm not ready yet", K-Mart answered Leon's question.

"I know, but it's been 2 months, K-Mart", Leon pointed out.

With that, K-Mart got a bit sad as she turned away from Leon and started staring at the floor. Leon noticed this and immediately concluded that he'd overstepped K-Mart boundary, which made him sorry for his words.

"I'm sorry", Leon apologized.

"It's alright", K-Mart said as she turned her attention to Leon again.

"Can I ask you another question then?" Leon continued the conversation.

"What's that?" K-Mart asked.

"What's your real name?" Leon asked out of the blue.

All of a sudden, K-Mart was surprised by Leon's question as she'd expected him to ask her about her favorite color or something. Not this particular question about her real name! What was she about to answer? What did he expect from her? And why did he want to know her real name in the first place? Did he really want to know, or did he want to hurt her by asking this specific question?

Ever since losing her parents and being recued from an abandoned K-Mart store, K-Mart had been hiding her real name, Dahlia Julia Mancini, for everyone, even for the ones that were really close to her, such as Claire and Carlos. Afraid of bringing up old memories, horrible memories she'd rather forget, she didn't want to answer Leon's question. It's not that she didn't want to tell him, but rather that she'd rather not bring up the terrible events of her past.

K-Mart just wanted to get rid of the memories of her parents dying in a narrow alley and of all the friends and family that she'd lost over the past couple of years. And now Leon was asking a very personal question. A little too personal, in K-Mart's opinion. And she knew him too well that he wouldn't just give up until he got an answer, which was exactly one of the reasons why she didn't want to give an answer to his question.

"Why do you want to know?" K-Mart asked back, surprise still being in her eyes.

"You don't want to tell me?" Leon replied.

"No I don't", K-Mart answered.

"Why not?" Leon questioned her.

"I just don't", K-Mart said as she turned her face away from Leon.

"Sure you can", Leon continued and laid his hand on her hand.

However, K-Mart quickly retracted her hand from under Leon's hand and stood up from the couch. She just didn't want to relive some of her memories. It'd just be too painful to remember them. Didn't Leon understand this? So why was he pushing the subject anyway? Didn't he know that revealing her name to him would cause her to break down in tears, something she assumed he didn't want for her? So why did he continue to question her anyway? Why was he so suddenly interested in her real name? It was all just really confusing to her.

"I said no", K-Mart said determined and began to walk away.

However, before she could make her way out of the living room, Leon grabbed her arm, which made her angry at him. She turned her angry face towards him.

"Let me go", K-Mart demanded in an angry tone.

With that, she pulled her arm free form Leon's grip of her. However, Leon kept staring confused at her, like he didn't understand her emotions at all. Her eyes were beginning to sting, forming tears while she was still angry. Angry at the fact that she couldn't understand how Leon could hurt her this way. Never in a million years had she thought that Leon would hurt her, but now it had finally happened. And for that, she was both angry and upset at him. Which was why K-Mart began to walk from the couch and out the door, slamming it angrily behind her.

Leon watched confused at her as he saw K-Mart going up the wooden stairs. He knew that K-Mart would rather not relive the horrible memories of her past, but he still didn't understand why K-Mart just didn't want to reveal her name. What was it that was too horrible to mention? What happened to her? He just wanted to get to know her a bit better, but now he just felt regretful for interrogating her. He didn't want her to feel attacked. He just wanted a little bit of her backstory, that was all.

Regretful, Leon dropped his head into his pillow he'd been sleeping on, sighing. He felt really regretful for the way he handled things with K-Mart, pushing her to say things she'd rather forget about. For that, he really was sorry. But he also didn't know what to do. What the hell did he have to do to make K-Mart forgive him for his abrupt manners? Never before had he seen K-Mart so angry, which was why it felt like he couldn't do or say anything to make her forgive him. So he dug his face even further into his pillow, trying to come up with some sort of solution to this problem.

Freezing winds were blowing freshly fallen snow off the roof of the cabin in which Leon and K-Mart stayed. The walls were, also on the outside, covered with wooden beams. The fresh layer of snow had come from a storm the night before. A bright red snowmobile stood parked in front of the front porch, also covered with snow. The cabin, which looked rather big for one person to live in, looked cozy. Windows were on the front and back of the structure, giving a clear view from inside to see if someone or something was approaching it. Pine trees were surrounding the building, shadowing it. Engraved into the trunks of the pine trees, were big claw marks. Claw marks, which belonged to creatures with sharp teeth and a long tongue. Very dangerous creatures...

* * *

**Author's note: Now that you know that K-Mart's real name is Dahlia (even if you hadn't figured that out from the previous chapters), what do you think of her backstory? I mean, she's been through some horrible times in her life and she's been doing everything she can to forget those times. So do you think I've written her backstory well enough? Or do you think my writing skills need some improving? Please let me know, because I'm always curious to know whether my story is entertaining to you guys or not.**

**I also want to know what your thoughts are about K-Mart's and Leon's relationship. Is it written realistically enough for you to accept them as a couple? Or do you (still) think that they don't belong together? After all, it has been a couple of chapters ago that they'd just met each other. And now, after only 4 chapters has passed, they've already kissed each other. So do you think their relationship is moving too quick, or do you like this pacing?**

**Thank you all for all the outstanding reviews you've already given me. They've really improved my writing and inspired me to write more chapters. So thank you for that. However, there's also the fact that it's hard for me to come up with original stuff if you guys don't give me some of your ideas for this story. So what do you think should happen next? I can't promise you that all of your ideas will be used, but maybe there are some ideas I can work with. I love me some reviews and comments, so please keep them going. Anyway, thanks for reading this chapter and I'll see you next time. **


	19. All Aboard

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

_Dark. Everything was dark. It was quiet too, except for the wind that rustled the leaves of the trees outside, creating the only sounds in the night. It almost sounded like there were spirits in the sky whispering to each other. The lights had been out for a few hours already as it had gotten dark outside. The moon shone through the curtains, illuminating a room in a dark bluish hue which was still bright enough to see a little bit in the dark. A room in which there was a gun on the single nightstand next to a bed. _

_Everything seemed quiet and pieceful, except for the soft whimpering and turning and tossing in the single bed in the room, which was occupied by Alice. Soft cracks were coming from the bed, which were made by Alice's movements. She seemed to be having a nightmare about something as sweatdrops were beginning to form on her forehead._

_"Can you hear me? Do you understand what I'm saying?" Doctor Isaacs asked a suspended Alice in her nightmare._

_She felt like she was trapped like an animal as cold water was all around her and her naked body, though she couldn't remember anything. It felt confusing for her to be there. Who was she? Where was she? And more importantly, who was the man on the other side of the glass? The man in the doctor's coat? Putting the questions in her mind away, she just nodded, hoping it would be approved._

_Next, Alice was walking the halls of what she assumed was one of Umbrella's labs. She was now clutching a labcoat to her chest as she wasn't wearing anything else. Yet she now knew who she was. She also knew what happened to her and that she needed to escape from this hellhole, as soon as possible. Sick of being prod with and being experimented on, she just needed to get the hell away from this place. So she kept walking, her bare feet touching the cold floor. Or at least, that was until she heard a voice in her head._

_"This is central. Request immediate backup. Maximum response", Alice heard the voice say._

_Suddenly, Alice felt like her mind reached out to all security cameras in the facility she was currently in. It was a strange feeling, a different and unusual kind of headache so to speak. Something she never felt before. However, that's when she suddenly noticed the camera on the ceiling right above her. Someone was watching her, of that she was certain. Someone who could call in reinforcements to keep her locked up inside this lab. Someone who could decide whether or not she would end up free or as an experiment. And especially that last option didn't sit well with her at all, so she desperately needed to get out of this place. _

_Intend on escaping from this Umbrella lab, Alice kept looking at the camera above her. And for some strange reason, it felt like her mind reached out to the person behind the security feeds, her headache getting worse. It was the strangest feeling, yet it felt somehow natural of her to feel it. It even felt like she was killing him remotely, which was the strangest feeling Alice had ever experienced. A feeling she had never felt before. _

_She somehow felt blood beginning to ooze out of the person's nose, then his eyes, then his ears. She imagined it to look horrific. Her mind just worked overtime, set on escaping the compound and killing the man. Then the feeling got even worse. She heard the man squirming and screaming as his heart seemed to slow down, second after second. Screams that went through her mind like nails on a chalkboard. And after a while, she heard the man losing his balance as his heart was nearly about to stop beating. In her mind, she just felt the man falling down while blood continued to ooze out of his body. And immediately as the man hit the ground, the headache stopped just as mysteriously as it had begun... _

_"No!" Alice shouted as she woke up with a jolt, sweating and gasping for air. _

_Immediately, she grabbed the gun from the nightstand and aimed it at the wall right opposite her bed, intending to shoot an intruder. However, that's when she realised there was no one else in the room except for herself. Realizing she just had a nightmare, Alice sighed and lowered her gun. She wasn't inside Umbrella's labs anymore. No, she was in a motel she and her friends had picked to spend the night in. _

_"What the hell is happening to me?" Alice asked herself as she put her hands in her hair._

_Alice had asked herself this question many times ever since she escaped from Umbrella's Detroit facility with the help of her friends. Her friends Jill, L.J., Carlos and Angie who were sleeping across the hallway of the motel they were currently staying at. They got her out of that hellhole, yet it seemed like the nightmares still followed her around. Whatever Umbrella had done to her, it wasn't over. Of that she was certain._

_With that, she climbed out of bed wearing a brown buttoned shirt, with a slit down the front, over a white tank top and khaki shorts with brown leggings. She just needed to get some answers and she needed them now._

_Fifteen minutes later, Alice was sitting on her bed with Jill sitting in the chair that was on the left side of the bed. Jill was wearing her usual blue tank top with the black short skirt as they were facing each other._

_"So what did you drag me out of bed for?" Jill asked as she suppressed a yawn._

_"I'm scared, Jill", Alice said._

_"We all are", Jill noted, "Care to be more specific?"_

_"Look, I know Umbrella did something to me", Alice replied, "Of that I'm certain."_

_"We all noticed, which is why we saved you from those assholes", Jill said._

_"But I don't know what exactly they did to me", Alice continued, "And that's what scares me."_

_Jill largely understood what Alice was going through. The first time they met, Alice came crushing through a church window on a motorcycle, killing monstrous creatures in just seconds. This was quite an impressive feet in Jill's opinion, but this was also the moment she immediately realised something was wrong with this wonderwoman. Something unnatural and unknown about her._

_Jill already knew that Umbrella was up to no good the moment she and her team were discharged from their mission in the Arklay Forest. Hell, she had even experienced it up close on the Raven's Gate Bridge. For all she knew, they could've done so many more things. Even things that had gone unnoticed by many people. Which was why Jill largely understood what Alice was going through as Umbrella held many secrets, even from their own employers. There was just no telling what they'd done to Alice, which was why her fears were valid._

_"It's not every day that things start floating around in the air when someone is asleep", Jill mentioned while she suppressed yet another yawn._

_"Exactly", Alice agreed._

_"So what are you going to do about it?" Jill asked._

_"I don't know", Alice said, "Yet."_

_"Well, you better figure it out before anyone gets hurt", Jill replied as she stood up from the chair, "Now if you excuse me, I've got a nice and comfy bed waiting for me."_

_"Before anyone gets hurt", Alice quoted Jill's words in her mind as she saw her friend disappearing through the door. She hadn't even realised that she could hurt people with what Umbrella had done to her. Of course there had been many nights when all sorts of things started floating around in the air every time she was asleep, but she'd never thought that she could actually hurt people with it, especially her friends. Her friends didn't deserve to be hurt. She'd never do that in a million years. Not after the things they'd been through._

_"Maybe I should leave", Alice whispered to herself._

_With that, Alice kept sitting on her bed, thinking about the possibilities of her finding out what exactly happened to her. There had to be a way. Of that she was sure. So she had to think of something that wouldn't hurt her friends. Maybe she should leave them, maybe not. But whatever it was going to be, she had to think of it fast. Of this she was certain._

* * *

As she was climbing up a rope ladder, Alice began to question herself whether this was a good idea or not. It was not everyday that they got to infiltrate an Umbrella-vessel, and especially one that didn't seem to move. Which was exactly the reason why it had gotten her a little suspicious about what exactly had happened on the ship. Maybe the crew had stopped sailing as they got nowhere else to go to in this undead world, stopping the ship from going any further. Maybe there were zombies on board. Maybe not. Or maybe there was something else on board...

It wasn't that she and Chris didn't know how to handle zombies or had been afraid of them, but the thought of this particular ship being full of the undead had made Alice question if heading to the vessel had been a good idea. Especially when she'd seen a rope ladder tossed over the side of the ship, she hadn't been sure if they should enter it. For all they know, the ship had indeed been taken over by zombies and the ladder was for the ones that had made it out alive to escape. Unable to put her doubts at ease, Alice looked down and saw Chris climbing the ladder behind her, wearing a backpack. He had also traded a short sleeved black jacket that he'd found on board the yacht for his black army vest.

"Are you sure this is the right plan?" Alice asked as a cold sea breeze blew through her strawberry blonde hair.

"Of course it is", Chris replied, "We wouldn't be climbing this ladder if it wasn't."

"Yes, but what if there are undead on board, especially since the ship isn't moving?" Alice responded.

"Do I sense a little fright right there?" Chris teasingly asked.

"No, but I'm just having doubts about this. What? Is that a crime or something?" Alice said, "Where did you get that backpack from anyway?"

"Um, from the yacht?" Chris stated obviously.

Alice rolled her eyes. Of course Chris had gotten the backpack from the yacht. How stupid of her to ask that. Guess she was just so focused on the ship and climbing on board that she hadn't noticed herself asking a foolish question. Which was why she continued to climb up the ladder, shaking her stupid question off of her.

After a while, Alice finally managed to climb onto the deck, stepping onto the wooden walkways the crew used to have walked on. Standing on the deck, Alice looked ahead and saw the big cargo area of the ship, which was full of metal containers and a few feet lower than where she was standing. Almost all of the containers looked like they hadn't moved from their places in years and were all looking rusty from the time they had been there.

The rest of the ship was as empty as if there had never been a crew on board. It seemed like all of them had vanished into thin air, leaving the ship behind. Emptiness filled the decks of this vessel. Eery emptiness. Maybe the crew had indeed been turned into zombies, Alice thought. However, there was only one way to find out. And that was by exploring this ship, which was Alice's full intention.

"The perfect place for a zombie to hide", Alice assumed, as she saw that the cargo area had at least 8 rows of containers lining the length and width. Enough space for the undead to keep themselves out of sight.

Looking to her right, Alice saw that the ship's bridge was positioned behind the cargo area, but wasn't at the very back of the ship. The whole place looked deserted, as if the whole crew had suddenly disappeared without leaving a trace behind. Only the containers were there to prove that this ship was once used for transport. It gave Alice a creepy feeling. This almost confirmed her theory that this vessel was full of zombies. But they needed to find out if they wanted to know for sure. After all, they could never be sure enough. Not in this undead world.

As she heard Chris climbing up the ladder behind her, Alice reached out her hand to him, getting him aboard. As he stepped onto the deck, Chris looked around, seeing the emptiness of the ship.

"Where is everyone?" Chris asked.

"I don't know", Alice said, "Maybe they all left."

"Maybe", Chris doubted.

Not ever had Chris seen a ship this empty. Normally, the decks would be buzzing with a large part of the crew. But now there was just nothing. No one to operate the ship, it seemed. This made him curious. For all he knew, the crew had left the ship because there was something dangerous lurking around. Or there could have been no reason at all. But the only way to find out was to actually search for the answer and find out whether he was right or not.

"Let's find out", Chris said.

"I'll take port", Alice offered.

"Then I guess I'll take starboard", Chris replied.

With that, they both parted ways with their guns drawn. Dark rumbling clouds were beginning to form above them, looking like a thunderstorm was about to break.

Fifteen minutes later, Chris arrived at the back of the ship, passing the bridge on his way. The thunderstorm that he'd been anticipating had already erupted as he reached his destination. Rain was pouring down on him, but he didn't care. Instead, he was happy to be there.

As he approached the very back of the vessel, without encountering anyone on his way, Chris saw that there was a helipad behind the bridge. But that was not all he saw. On top of the helipad was a helicopter. An unmanned army green helicopter stood parked on it, which was looking ready for someone to fly away with it.

"Well, well, well, what have we got here?" Chris mused to himself.

Crates were surrounding the aircraft, looking like some sort of barricade to protect it. Chris questioned himself about the importance of the crates. What were these crates doing here? Did the crew use them to protect this helicopter from someone or something? And what was this something then? Zombies? Or something else? And why didn't they just fly away from those supposed creatures with it, instead of abandoning it?

If Chris himself had been a pilot on board this vessel, he would've flown the helicopter away the moment any possible zombie had begun to swarm the decks. But now the helicopter just stood there, doing nothing and being surrounded by seemingly empty crates. This had made Chris very confused as all sorts of questions played out in his mind.

Another fifteen minutes later, Alice was walking among the containers in the cargo area. Being surrounded by huge cubicles of metal made her feel trapped. Zombies could be hiding around every corner, ready to attack her. Luckily for her, she had a gun, ready to shoot anything that seemed to move. Gaping holes were made into the walls of some of the containers, looking like something had crawled out of them.

Lightning flashed in the air every once in a while and Alice's hair stuck to her face as the rain was pouring down on her, but she didn't really care about it. All she cared about, was finding out why this ship had seemingly been abandoned.

Suddenly, Alice saw something ducking away behind a container from the corner of her eye. It looked like a dark shadowy figure and then it disappeared again. Aiming her gun at the spot where she saw it, she began to walk towards it.

"Who's there?" she asked.

However, no one responded, which made Alice suspicious about who was there. Maybe this person didn't want to make himself known for some particular reason. Or maybe it was a zombie or some other creature. However, Alice slowly made her way towards the container with anticipation. She was ready to confront whoever was hiding from her, whether it would be a zombie of someone who was still alive.

Carefully peeking around the corner of the container, Alice realised that there was no one there. No one and nothing was there. No dark creature or something who could've scared the hell out of her, which made her sigh in relief. Her imagination was just playing with her, that was all. She could just move on like she'd never seen something lurking from the shadows.

However, that was until there was a lightning strike in the air, casting a big shadow over her.

"Hey", a voice suddenly said.

All of a sudden, Alice quickly noticed a dark figure behind her. A figure that had made her unexpectedly very frightened. Immediately, she anxiously turned around to face the person behind her and grabbed the gun from her belt, aiming it at the dark figure. As lightning flashed through the sky once again, a frightened Alice held her finger on the trigger, ready to shoot.

"Wow, easy", the figure shouted alarmed as it quickly raised its hands in the air.

Now that she had a clearer sight of the dark figure, Alice realized that it was Chris who she was pointing her gun at. Chris was the one who had frightened the shit out of her. Of course she could've expected him to show up out of nowhere, but not that soon after they had seperated. Which was why she was still breathing heavily after discovering who the dark figure was. After realizing it was Chris, Alice sighed and lowered her weapon.

"You scared the hell out of me, Chris", she said.

"I noticed", Chris responded, sighing relieved that he wasn't at gunpoint anymore.

"Don't ever do that again", Alice warned.

Alice needed some time to calm down. She hadn't been this jumpy of scared by someone in a long while, which was quite a feet for Chris to achieve, she admitted. Normally, she wouldn't have been so easily scared. But with seemingly no one on this ship and her being all alone while a thunderstorm was going on, it had made her a bit frightened. How it had come to be this way, she didn't know. Maybe her being jumpy was the result of a combination of things, maybe it was her own insecurity or maybe it was something else. However, now that Chris was with her again, she could just let her frightened state pass away like nothing ever happened.

"Listen, there's a chopper on the back of this ship", Chris spoke after a while, "Maybe we could use it in our advantage."

"Maybe", a calmed down Alice commented, "But first we need to explore the rest of this ship. Maybe there's still someone left. Or maybe there are food and guns on board."

Chris nodded and together with Alice, he began to make his way through the containers and out of the cargo area.

After Alice and Chris had already walked away, something suddenly appeared at the corner of the container where they'd been standing. It looked like a hand, but it was all rotten and seemed dead. Soft moaning could be heard from behind the container. Moaning that belonged to the undead.

* * *

**Author's note: What did you think of this chapter? Quite creepy, huh? And it's only going to get more complicated from now on. There are already some details in this chapter that are going to show up in future chapters. You just have to read further to find out what these details are. However, I can already tell you that the helicopter and the one that is going to fly it are going to be important. And no, the pilot is not going be Alice or Chris. I've already written someone else for this role. Someone who you'll meet in a few chapters time...**

**By the way, have you already noticed that most chapters of my story have a double meaning? For example, this chapter is named "All Aboard". This is not only because Chris and Alice are climbing on board a ship, but also because in the flashback, Alice needs to be on board with herself on deciding to go after Umbrella or not. But also in chapter 13 "Past Revelations", it's not only that Alice reveals something about her past, but also because at the end of the chapter, both Chris and Alice have gone past both of their revelations. However, there are so much more chapters that have a double meaning. And maybe you could tell me which one you like best. Just click the review-button below and tell me what you think. I'm all open to your suggestions and ideas. All you have to do is share your opinion, which will be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance and I'll see you next time.**


	20. Crossing Bridges

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

_A sigh escaped from Leon's mouth. Cars. Cars had been the only vehicles that he had been seeing all day till right this moment. Even tonight, just as a car's taillights disappeared from his view, a bored Leon already saw another car passing the gate. A large steel gate right on the bridge of a city that had been surrounded by an enormous concrete wall. Raccoon City, to be exact._

_"ID, please", Leon stated for what felt like the hundredth time as he saw the next car approaching with the driver's window rolled down._

_With that, the car, a dark red BMW, halted in front of the U.B.C.S. operative. Just like all the other cars he had to check up on this day. The driver, an old man of what Leon guessed was at least 65 years old, next turned to an elderly woman, presumably his wife, who was sitting in the seat next to him. The woman then handed him his ID, which the old man then gave to Leon. _

_Next, Leon proceeded to read the man's ID by illuminating it with his flashlight. After all, he needed to be sure this couple had gone through the inspection at the gate with a clean slate, just like with the other people he had dealt with for the past day. Or at least, a slate clean enough to warrant these people heading out of Raccoon City safely._

_"You're clean", Leon said as he'd checked the elderly couple's ID and noticed no visible signs of infection on them._

_After handing the ID back to the old man, Leon saw him handing the item to his wife again before rolling up the window and driving off into the night. He sighed again as he witnessed the dark red BMW disappearing out of sight, taillights fading out into the dark._

_"Rough day?" asked one of Leon's colleagues nearby after having noticed Leon's sigh._

_"You don't want to know", Leon answered, "How early did you get the call?"_

_"At around 4 A.M.", his colleague replied somberly._

_"And this all because of some sort of virus", Leon said, "Can you believe it?"_

_The first thing Leon heard after picking up the phone at around 4 in the morning, was that some sort of virus had escaped into Raccoon City, his current residence of choice. A very contagious virus. From what Leon'd heard, it's victims suffered from cannibalistic behavior, spreading this virus by biting and scratching other people and turning them in what people called the 'living dead'. It just sounded preposterous to him as there was just no way a virus that dangerous would have even been created. Just no way._

_"I know right?" Leon's colleague responded, "I mean, turning people into the living dead? Come on!"_

_"But here we are on the Raven's Gate Bridge, checking if the 'gate people' have done their jobs", Leon sighed._

_"Yep, sad but true", his colleague continued, "We should get a bonus for this."_

_During the phone call Leon got this morning, he was told by his superior to stand guard on the Raven's Gate Bridge. Why he needed to stand guard, he didn't know. And he didn't need to know. All Leon had to focus on from that moment on, was checking if the people that had passed the medical inspection at the bridge's gate, were indeed all 'clean'. And by 'clean', it meant that these people had clearance to pass through the gate, as evidenced by special I.D.'s that were handed out after a succesful check-up. But it also meant that these people didn't show any signs of infection. Whatever 'infection' meant in this case._

_"You're absolutely right", Leon joked to his colleague._

_However, that's when suddenly, Leon heard a squeaking sound. A heavy metallic squeaking sound that, as Leon noticed, was coming from the large metal gate that was the only way out of the city. Somehow, the people who were in charge of getting Raccoon City's inhabitants out of the city, which in this case was Leon's employer, the Umbrella Corporation, had decided to seemingly close the bridge off and thereby closing the only way out of the city. The only chance to get away from this supposed virus people kept talking about was shut down right in front of Leon's very eyes._

_"What's going on?" Leon curiously asked his colleague, confused about the sudden closing of the gate._

_"I don't know", His colleague answered, a dumbfounded look on his face._

_With that, a curious Leon began to take off towards a staircase that was located next to the gate._

_"Hey, where are you going?" his colleague shouted._

_"I'm going to find out", Leon shouted back._

_Leon S. Kennedy had always been a curious man. When he was just a cop-in-training in New York, he'd learned the do's and don'ts of being a cop very quickly. Just because he had a curious nature, his superiors had been very impressed with him and his work as he was a quick learner and a good student. That's why he'd graduated earlier than his fellow students. His grades were just over the top and his achievements were just so superb that he'd finished college on a very early age, moving to Raccoon City to accomplish his hopes and dreams. That's how he came to be an employee for Umbrella and he was proud to be part of such a big organisation._

_As Leon was walking up the stairs that lead to the top of the gate, he heard the people on the other side yelling and pushing each other to reach the gate first. It sounded like sheer chaos as the sounds of thousands of people shouting, pushing and screaming made their way to Leon's ears._

_Arriving on top of the gate, Leon saw that the gate had already been closed. He turned his attention to the members of his team that were standing on the gate, who were positioned towards the crowd of people. As Leon was wearing the same outfit as them, he could fit right in. With his black cargo pants, black shirt and black army vest, which had an Umbrella-logo on his left chest, Leon wore the exact same clothes as them. _

_Amongst his colleagues, he saw a man in an expensive business suit with short darkblonde hair, holding a microphone. Leon knew the name of this man was Major Timothy Cain, a German with a high position amongst the people of the Umbrella Corporation. In his darkgrey business suit, he didn't seem to quite fit in with the rest of the military personel on the gate. But nonetheless, Leon had to pay respect to him because of his ranks and because he was his boss' boss. Slowly, Cain raised the microphone to his mouth._

_"This is a biohazard quarantine area", Cain said through the device, "Due to risk of infection, you cannot be allowed to leave the city."_

_Confused about Cain's statement, Leon walked over to one of his colleagues._

_"Hey Carl, what's going on?" Leon asked his colleague._

_"Apparently, the virus has reached the gate", Carl answered._

_"The virus everyone keeps talking about?" Leon continued to ask._

_"Seems like this virus is the real deal after all", Carl pointed out, "Or at least, according to Umbrella."_

_To Leon, it definitely sounded like all the rumours about the virus were indeed true. However, he still wouldn't believe it. It just sounded so ridiculous, a virus that was turning the human race into the undead. It just seemed so fake. However, on the other hand it also sounded plausible since Umbrella had closed off the gate because of it. They wouldn't just seal off the only exit out of the city based on a hunch. So there just had to be some truth to this virus. Of that Leon was certain._

_"All appropriate measures are being taken. The situation is under control", Cain continued, "Please return to your homes." _

_"You won't get away with this", a woman in the crowd said as more and more people began to push towards the gate._

_As Leon was watching the crowd, he noticed that the chaos amongst the people on the bridge was growing bigger and bigger. Every man, woman and child continued to scream, yell and shout as their sounds filled the air. Everyone was in a hurry to escape the city as they pushed past each other to reach the gate first. Some people got trampled by others, some got pushed to the ground. Whatever Umbrella had tried to achieve by closing the gate, it hadn't worked out so well as the chaos and the panick only became worse and worse._

_However, that was until something happened..._

_"BANG!"_

_Suddenly, there was a gunshot. Everyone became scared. Even Leon was slightly shocked. All noise and movement seemed to stop for a while as all eyes were directed at Cain with a smoking gun in his hand._

_"You have five seconds to turn around and return to the city", Cain warned the crowd._

_Leon couldn't believe Cain. Was he truly serious about this? Surely, the crowd on the bridge was there for a reason. They wouldn't all gather at the bridge for nothing. What about the virus? If what they said about it was indeed true, then why does Cain insist that these people return to their homes? Back to the infectious virus that could kill all these people? If it was himself on that bridge, he wouldn't want to go back to the city, even if his life depended on it._

_"He can't be serious, can he?" a shocked Leon asked Carl._

_"Apparently, he can", Carl replied sadly._

_"But what about the virus?" Leon mentioned, "Doesn't he care about these people?"_

_"Apparently not", Carl said._

_As Leon watched all this in shock and awe, he noticed Cain turning towards the head commander of his squad and saying something to him that Leon couldn't hear. But it soon became clear what it was, as his fellow colleagues started to aim their guns at the crowd._

_"Use of live ammunition has been authorized", the head commander said, the rest of his team loading and cocking their guns._

_"What?" a shocked Leon gasped. _

_Leon just couldn't believe what he was witnessing with his very own eyes. Were they truly going to shoot the crowd or was it just a threat? Because if they did shoot the crowd, Umbrella would never get away with this act of merciless killing. They'd never get away with that. _

_Of course Leon understood that the spread of the virus needed to be avoided by all costs, especially if the effects of it were as horrible as he'd heard. If he'd been the head of Umbrella, Leon would've done the same exact thing as Umbrella had done by sealing off the city with a concrete wall and closing off the gate if the virus had indeed reached it. He would've taken the exact same measures as they'd done._

_But to shoot innocent people, just because they wouldn't return to their homes, sounded to Leon like something that a really insane person would come up with. These people just didn't deserve to be shot because of this. They weren't the blame for the spread of the virus. Someone else was. So instead of these people getting shot at, the person who had invented the virus needed to be shot. He or she was the one behind this virus, instead of these innocent people who didn't deserve all of this._

_As the head commander began to count down, Leon turned his face towards the crowd._

_"5."_

_Several people were beginning to panick, getting back to the city as fast as they could. _

_"4."_

_Some people were laughing, thinking Umbrella was making a joke._

_"3." _

_On the front of the crowd Leon noticed a fairly attractive woman in a blue tube top, a black mini-skirt and high heels, warning the rest of the crowd Umbrella was serious about this and telling them to head back to the city if they wanted to live._

_"2."_

_With the woman was a black man in a S.T.A.R.S.-uniform and a tidy dressed woman, who Leon recognized from the news._

_"1."_

_Now was the moment of truth. The moment Leon had been terrified for for the last 5 seconds..._

_Several gunshots all of a sudden rang out. It was like time completely slowed down for Leon as it seemed like he was being shaken awake from a bad dream by the sound of a loud thunderstorm. Several people got hit, falling down to the ground with bullet holes in their bodies. Other people screamed and cried as they were tending to the ones on the ground. The people on the back of the crowd were running for their lives, afraid. It was like a nightmare, a really bad nightmare._

_After several minutes, the shooting creased. The sounds of screaming people filled the air and Leon truly felt disgusted by the scene that had just unfolded before his very eyes. He still couldn't believe his employer had actually authorized the shooting of innocent people. But right down there, right on the other side of that very bridge, there was proof that it had actually happened._

_The main reason Leon had for coming to Raccoon City and working for Umbrella was so he had more action in his life, instead of working a dull job in New York City. He first thought this kind of work would give him a goal in his life, a reason for doing the things he loved to do. But now, Leon felt disgusted for even being hired to become a part of this terrible ordeal. This ordeal of shooting innocent people who had done nothing wrong. Leon truly began to regret the moment that he began working for Umbrella. _

_If this was what Leon's job had become, than he rather wanted the quiet life, away from all the chaos. He just wanted nothing to do with shooting innocent people and a large corporation who is willing to turn a blind eye to injustice. There was just no way he wanted to stay part of the U.B.C.S. No, he just wanted his life to become uncomplicated again, just like the life he'd led in New York._

_With that, Leon turned around. He just couldn't keep looking at all the innocent people who were shot at. He just couldn't face the things his employer had done. He just didn't want to witness the horrible aftermath of Umbrella's doings. So he slowly made his way over to the metal stairs, regretful over the choice he made by joining the U.B.C.S. And above all, he wanted to forget the whole thing he'd just witnessed. Forget that he'd ever been there on that bridge. Forget that he'd ever come to this place. Forget that he'd ever been in Raccoon City._

* * *

"Why did I push her like that?" was the thought that went through Leon's mind as he regretfully put his pants on while the sound of a shower running could be heard in the background.

Right after the moment K-Mart had stormed out of the living room, Leon had been going through a thousand things to say to make her forgive him. A thousand apologies he could say for pushing K-Mart to tell him her real name. It wasn't that he wanted to hurt her. No, it was merely just his curiosity that wanted to know more about his current girlfriend, that was all. Just a way to find out more about where K-Mart's name came from. However, K-Mart was still hurt by this and it just felt like the world was over when he saw her angry face looking at him, right before she stormed out the door just minutes ago. An angry face he just couldn't put out of his mind.

There must be a way to make K-Mart forgive him. Leon just couldn't live with himself if she didn't. But whatever he thought of, it just wouldn't make it right with her. The words just wouldn't be right or the sentences wouldn't be sincere enough. So he kept thinking about the right words to say as he heard the bathroom door open, indicating K-Mart was finished with her shower. Just the right moment to speak to her, though he still wasn't sure about what to say to her.

However, just as Leon began to make his way over to the bathroom to speak with K-Mart, he already heard her walking down the stairs. Just as he'd reached the bedroom door, he saw her going down the steps, wearing nothing but a white towel around her waist. Guess she still didn't want to talk to him, as evidenced by her not getting dressed in the bedroom. Leon sighed as he saw her disappearing from his view.

A few minutes later, Leon was fully dressed in blue jeans, a brown shirt and his old black police vest. Right when he entered the living room, he saw K-Mart standing by the window with her arms crossed, looking out on the snowy pine forest that surrounded the snow cabin. She still was only wrapped in the towel and her hair was still wet from the shower as she didn't even took a glance at him. She didn't even take a little peek at him as he entered the living room. Guess she was still angry...

"Hey", Leon began after clearing his throat.

K-Mart, however, didn't respond back.

"Look, I know what I said was stupid", Leon continued.

"Then why'd you say it?" K-Mart responded angrily while keeping her eyes on the pine trees outside.

"I just wanted to get to know you a little better", Leon answered, "That's all."

"So you've hurt me because of some curiosity?" K-Mart said while she turned her angry face towards Leon, "Is that it?"

By the look on K-Mart's face, Leon could already tell that she wouldn't let what happened pass away so easily. Letting her forgive him wouldn't be an easy task, of that he was sure. He could just tell by the look on her face. A hurtful and angry look that told him that he needed to be careful with what he was going to say now. If he said the wrong thing, it'd only make the situation even worse. And that was the last thing Leon wanted to happen.

"I didn't want to hurt you", Leon explained, "Never in a million years will I ever want to hurt you."

"Nice way of not hurting me then", K-Mart replied sarcastically.

"Look, the reason why I wanted to know the real you is because I wanted to take our relationship to the next level", Leon continued to explain, "But I can now see that you're not ready yet. Or at least not ready to reveal your real name to me."

"Thanks for noticing. Now get the hell out of my sight", K-Mart said spiteful while turning her back to Leon again.

However, Leon wasn't planning on letting K-Mart dismiss him that way. No way he would ever let her get away without a full explanation of what happened and a sincere apology. He just wanted to make clear to her that he was really sorry for everything, which was why he quickly made his way over to K-Mart and turned her around, an even angrier face staring back at him and wanting to slap him in the face. He, however, didn't care for all Leon was concerned about was making K-Mart forgive him. No matter what.

"Look, I know I've hurt you", Leon said strongly while firmly blocking and gripping K-Mart's hand that was about to slap him, "Okay, I've hurt you badly."

"You're damn straight", K-Mart spat in his face while she tried to get loose from Leon's grip on her wrist.

"But I'll always love you, no matter what", Leon spoke with a voice like thunder while looking directly into K-Mart's hazel brown eyes, "No matter if you hate me or not. No matter if you despise me for it, I'll always love you. On that you can rely."

With that, it seemed like something all of a sudden melted inside K-Mart as her face changed from an angry to a shocked and surprised look. Something so crucial, that it seemed like all of the anger suddenly disappeared from her face and mind.

All of K-Mart's angry feelings suddenly seemed to have gotten washed away by Leon's words, which had apparently made an impression on her. An impression so heavy, that it made tears starting to form in K-Mart's eyes, moved by the words that Leon had just spoken. All of the anger from before had suddenly disappeared as it had made it's way for heavy tears, which were beginning to flow down K-Mart's cheeks. That's when all of a sudden, K-Mart broke down and dug her face into Leon's shoulder, crying her heart out.

"It just hurts so much", K-Mart sobbed through her tears.

"I know it does", Leon tried to calm her down by holding her closely, embracing K-Mart with both of his arms.

"And it's not just my parents, but Claire and the kids too", K-Mart cried.

"I know", Leon soothed her, "I know."

Finally, Leon had reached K-Mart's breaking point. A point so crucial that it had made all of the anger go away in just seconds. From angry and spiteful towards him, K-Mart had changed to vulnerable, fragile and hurt. All of the angry feelings had disappeared and now there was just sadness left. A sadness so deep within her that it had taken several years for her to build it up and let it go in just seconds. And now he just needed to be there as she cried her heart out.

K-Mart felt like she could finally let go of all the feelings she'd built up over the course of several years. Several years of heartache. Several years of losing people all around her. And several years of being alone and hurt. She could finally let go of those feelings. At first she was angry. But after Leon's tender words, she realised that she just couldn't let those angry feelings dominate her. No longer would she be angry at the world. No, after Leon had said that he loved her, no matter what, she could finally let go. Those words, those sweet tender words, had made it all happen.

After a while, Leon looked into K-Mart's hazel brown eyes while keeping his hand on her bare shoulders as she looked back into his with teary eyes.

"Listen", Leon started to say, "If you want me to keep calling you K-Mart, then that's fine with me. It doesn't even matter to me what your real name is anymore."

"Really?" K-Mart asked through her sobs, tears in her eyes.

"Really", Leon said, meaning it.

With that, K-Mart dug her face right back into Leon's shoulder as she kept crying. Leon returned to embracing her while he looked out on the snowy pine trees through the window of the snow cabin. Together, they stood there for a while, spending this moment together. This sweet moment of K-Mart's full surrender to the feelings that she'd let go...

Until Leon noticed something outside...

It was only after a while that Leon saw something approaching the snow cabin. Something that looked like a human, but its spine was bent in such way that it could move on all four limbs. It had grey skin, mixed with brown and red, bones seeming to stick out of it. The creature's fingers and toes ended in huge claw-like talons. It looked like it had a huge mouth, filled with giant sharp teeth and a tongue that seemed to stretch for miles. But what was the most creepy, were the thing's eyes, which were non-existent. It looked like something from a horror movie as Leon saw it moving through the snow and towards the snow cabin.

The creature outside looked like something Leon had never seen before as it stuck it's whip-like tongue out to him. It seemed like this creature had suddenly appeared out of nowhere as Leon had never seen anything like it near his snow cabin before. In fact, he never even imagined this monster to exist. But now that he saw it through the window, it scared the living hell out of him. As he looked at the monster's ugly head, Leon became frightened like never before. What was this creature planning to do, now that it was near his cabin? That was the question that was mostly going through Leon's mind, especially since the creature seemed to be approaching the snow cabin from a close distance.

"K-Mart?" Leon said, shocked at the horrible sight outside.

K-Mart looked up from Leon's shoulder, still with watery eyes, only so see him looking wide-eyed at the window.

"What is it?" she asked as she noticed Leon's shocked expression.

Suddenly, the creature outside looked through the window and saw the 2 humans standing there. One of them was looking back, which interrupted him from his walk. With its non-existent eyes, it looked back at Leon in a threatening way, like it was planning to do something unexpected. Leon could just sense the danger of the whole situation now that this creature had stopped in its tracks. Whatever was about to happen, it wouldn't be good...

In just seconds after making eye contact with it, Leon saw the creature quickly pushing itself off of the snow covered ground and jumping towards the window. With an amazing speed, the creature jumped off the ground and leapt towards the window, intending to break through it. Now Leon had to act swiftly.

"Get down!" Leon shouted.

Without even realising what was going on, K-Mart saw Leon quickly ducking down to the ground while he grabbed her towel and pulled her down also. Next, the both of them hit the floor, quickly falling down. This rapidly resulted in the knot in K-Mart's towel all of a sudden getting loose, making the towel around her bare body almost slide off. However, K-Mart just grasped it together in time as she hit the wooden floorboards.

Meanwhile, the creature quickly made it's way towards the window and used it's claws to break through the glass, shattering it into a million pieces. In just seconds, the creature tore through the glass window like it was paper. Shards of glass quickly rained down on both Leon and K-Mart, creating little cuts here and there.

Next, the creature quickly made it's way into the living room, jumping over the 2 humans on the floor. Next, it crashlanded on the slippery wooden surface, knocking over furniture in the process like an unstoppable train.

After the creature had jumped over them, Leon quickly got up while he also pulled K-Mart up, getting her up from the floor by her arm. As she was pulled to her feet again by Leon, K-Mart tried to hold the loosened towel around her naked body while feeling embarrassed about it. She wasn't wearing anything else, so she slowly felt herself starting to blush while trying to cover up her nudity. She also started to shiver from the cold winds that came through the broken window. However, before K-Mart could realise it, Leon swiftly cupped her face in his hands, looking deep into her eyes as she was clutching the piece of fabric to her chest.

"Listen to me", Leon said quickly, "Get dressed. I'll meet you downstairs."

"But what about you?" a shivering K-Mart asked, not wanting to leave Leon behind with this monster.

"I'll manage", Leon said, "Now go."

As Leon let go of K-Mart, she immediately ran to the door while holding the towel tightly around her body. Next, she opened the door and disappeared into the hallway. Leon looked after her to secure her safety. Then he focused on the creature, which had gotten to its feet in its seemingly confused state in the meantime. Quickly, he aimed his gun at it as he didn't want this creature to escape from his gaze.

However, before Leon noticed what was going on, the creature jumped on the ceiling in a blink of an eye, clutching it with its sharp claws. Immediately, Leon aimed his gun at the creature as quickly as he could. But the monster just stared at him, intend to make this human its prey. Leon looked at it with a determination to kill this beast out of pure anger as he raised his gun towards it.

Next were a series of loud and revengeful gunshots.

* * *

**Author's note: Whoohoo! Finally some action scenes! And it's not over yet as there are much more action scenes to come. You just wait and see.**

**After many chapters of character development and quiet scenes, I thought you guys to be happy if I'd spice this story up a little by throwing in some action scenes. So what do you think of this development? Do you think it was due? Or do you want more quiet scenes with character development? Please tell me in your reviews and comments. **

**Meanwhile, I also want to draw your attention towards chapter 18, which has gone through some changes ever since you guys commented on it. Instead of K-Mart and Leon sleeping together (which I also started to think was gross), I now have them sleeping in seperate rooms. This way, I wanted to approach Leon and K-Mart's relationship more carefully, as opposed to what I had written before. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter better now since I've removed the distasteful elements from it. All I hope for now, is that you guys will forgive me for my hasteful decision concerning this story and that you'll stick with me as the adventure continues.**

**Furthermore, I also would like to know what you think about the relationship between Leon and K-Mart now. Ever since I've changed chapter 18, I haven't gotten any reviews from you guys. Is this because you think my story doesn't have any flaws? Or is this just because you guys don't know what to say about it? Either way, I'm still hoping to get your reviews, whether you like my story or not. Just say what you have to say in your reviews and comments and maybe I can do something with it. All you have to do, is click on the blue button below and type your opinion about this story. That's all it takes to make me happy. Thanks in advance and I'll see you next time. Till then... **


	21. A Chilling Surprise

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

_"Do we have a choice?" Alice asked._

_"Not if you want to live beyond tonight, no", the voice on the other end of the telephone line told her._

_Those were the words that went through Alice's mind as she felt the burning heat touching her skin, bright burning flames blazing all around her and a little girl she was sheltering. A 12 year old little girl by the name of Angela Ashford. It felt like she and this little girl were engulfed in an intense inferno where it was impossible to escape out of. An inescapable furnace, so to speak. _

_It was only fortunate that Alice had grabbed a safety blanket from a cabinet on the wall right before the fire broke out. Without that, she and Angela would've been toast. Litterally. But now that they were being covered by a heat-resistent blanket, they were lucky enough to not get touched by the flames that were surrounding them. Lucky enough to not get hurt._

_However, after a few seconds, the fire completely ceased. The undead dogs that had been chasing both Angela and Jill Valentine in the school they were in, were as dead as can be and the danger was finally over. Or at least, for a while. Time for Alice to unfurl the safety blanket and meet this little girl. After all, she was the ticket out of the zombified city that was Raccoon City. _

_Yet as soon as she had dropped the blanket to the floor, Alice just couldn't help but stare at the girl as she immediately sensed something between them. Something about the T-Virus within themselves. Something that gave her a weird feeling. A feeling she'd never felt before, which left her surprised._

_"Thank you", Angela said to the astonished woman who was staring at her._

_"You two know each other?" an observing Jill asked while she was coughing up smoke after having escaped the blazing fire by crashing on an overturned table._

_"She's infected", Alice pointed out, "She's infected on a massive level."_

_"How can you know that?" Jill continued to ask, more out of suspicion than out of curiosity as she slowly stood up from the table._

_"Because she is too", Angela noted._

_Immediately after saving this girl from the dogs in the school's kitchen, Alice had somehow immediately noticed that both this girl and herself had been given the same exposure to the T-Virus. Both she and her were identical in that way. The only difference was that this girl seemed to have been exposed for what seemed to be all her life, while Alice had only a short exposure to the virus very recently. Nonetheless, it was quite an interesting coincidence. Or at least, according to Alice._

_"You're infected?" Jill said alarmed, "When were you gonna tell us that?"_

_Alice, however, ignored Jill by taking an overturned chair and sitting down on it while noticing Angela was carring a bag with her. A bag that seemed to contain a rectangular box of sorts, which Alice guessed was either a book or a lunchbox. A lunchbox that she suspected could contain something of use to them. Why else would this girl carry it all the way with her instead of just leaving it behind? That's what a curious and intrigued Alice wanted to find out._

_"Let me see", Alice requested the girl._

_"No", Angela immediately declined, hiding the bag behind her back._

_Not satisfied with that answer, Alice got up from the chair and looked Angela directly in the eyes. She knew Angela had been experimented on. Only the reason why and how was still unclear to her. Hence the reason why she needed to see for herself whether they'd done the same things to her as to herself. She just needed proof that she wasn't all alone in this. Angela just needed to know that nothing was going to happen to her as Alice just wanted to see what this girl had been carrying around. That was all. _

_"You know I'm not going to hurt you", Alice tried to reassure Angela, "Let me see."_

_With that, Angela felt reassured enough to stretch out her arm towards Alice, intending for her to look underneath her sleeve. Next, Alice rolled up her sleeve, revealing Angela's entire arm being covered with needle marks. Needle marks that looked like 6 red dots in a circle. Evidence that she had indeed been injected with the same virus as Alice had been since she also had the same needle markings, which made Alice even more curious about the little girl in front of her. _

_Angela saw Alice looking at her arm with intrigue, while she noticed Jill looking at it with both curiosity and caution. No one could blame the woman in the blue tube top, though._

_However, Alice still wanted to know what was in Angela's bag, so she reached for it, zipped it open and grabbed a lunchbox right out of it. Just as she'd suspected. However, instead of a regular lunchbox, it looked like this item had a compartment that could be slid out to the side. You only needed to push a button to unlock this compartment, which Alice immediately did next. However, once the compartment was slid out, Alice was shocked to find out what was in it._

_Packed into foam were various vials and a syringe, the vials looking like double helixes and containing a green substance. Despite the surprise, Alice knew immediately what she had revealed. And it wasn't nothing..._

_"It's the Anti-Virus, a cure to the T-Virus", Alice said as she looked at Angela, even more curious now._

_"There's a cure?" a surprised Jill asked._

_"How did you get this?" Alice curiously questioned the girl in front of her._

_"My daddy. My daddy made it for me", Angela revealed as Alice turned her head towards Jill in a knowing look._

_"He's sick and someday, I'll get sick too", Angela continued, "He just wanted to stop that."_

_Alice could relate to Angela. If she herself had been sick, whatever her sickness was, she would've been begging for a cure as no one should be sick in a perfect world. Hence the reason why she understood Angela's father. If Alice ever found out that her daughter, if she ever had one, inherited the same genetic disease as her, she would've done the same exact thing as Charles Ashford. From spending millions of dollars on a possible cure to even selling her own organs if needed to, she would've done anything to save her daughter. Anything._

_"When I was little, I had to walk on crutches", Angela went on with her story, "They said I'd never get better, just worse. He found a way to make me stronger."_

_"The T-Virus", Alice guessed, which was followed by Angela's nod._

_"Then, they took the invention away from him", Angela continued, "He's not a bad man. He didn't mean for any of this."_

_With that, Angela bowed her head down in sadness. She just couldn't help but think about the moments she heard her daddy cry when he thought no one was listening. After his invention had been taken away, he just had no choice but to see his little girl slowly getting cripple again. It was heartbreaking. The only thing that could've saved his child from being sick had been taken away, leaving him with nothing. Angela almost began to cry as she thought about this, which was being noticed by Alice._

_"It's okay", Alice tried to calm Angela down while embracing her in a hug._

_To Alice, it was heartbreaking to hear what a father would do for his daughter. Even though Charles Ashford had created a virus that had brought down the city they were currently staying in, she still felt for the man. Whatever he had done to save his little girl, it sounded like the greatest thing someone could even do for another. Something admirable, even though it had brought so much destruction and chaos. So much destruction and chaos, even though Ashford had meant it so well._

_So for a while, Alice just couldn't help but embrace Angela in a hug with a thought that she wanted to hold onto forever. A moment of piece in a destroyed world that she wanted to remember for as long as she lived. Just a moment of silence and piece, filled with the greatest act of care and devotion in a world before the Outbreak. Just this one moment..._

* * *

Large steel drainage pipes coming out of the walls. Painted electricity wires ending in rectangular boxes. Metal grates as flooring. Grey-ish doors being a few feet apart from one another. Exactly the sight Chris Redfield remembered from his U.B.C.S. days when he'd been on many of Umbrella's ships. However, it was also exactly the sight Chris Redfield was seeing right now as he was yet on another Umbrella owned ship, this time with his only companion, which was a woman named Alice.

"Empty! Again!", an annoyed Chris yelled to Alice as he left yet another empty room aboard the Umbrella vessel.

Together, Chris and Alice had entered one of what seemed like Umbrella's cargo ships, which appeared to be entirely abandoned at first sight. From the moment they started to investigate the upper decks to the moment they began to look for ammo and food in the lower areas of the ship, not one living breathing thing had been found so far, except for the occasional rat. But that was as expected since a rope ladder had been tossed over the side of the ship, indicating the entire crew to have left the ship where it had seemingly stranded. It even seemed like no one was left behind as the entire ship was quiet and eerie, which gave Chris a creepy feeling.

And now they were scanning every room, opening every door to find some ammo or food as this search party seemed to have lasted for hours in Chris' opinion. In the 2 hours that they had been on this ship, they'd found nothing. Not even a bullet or a half-eaten piece of bread or something. Nothing. Chris sighed as he opened yet another door, only to find empty bunk beds for the missing crew. Guess checking this room was another waste of time. Time they could've spent driving towards Tokyo instead.

"How long are we going to do this?" an annoyed Chris asked as he left the sleeping quarters and saw Alice coming out of a room adjacent of his.

"For as long as need be", Alice replied as they continued to walk towards another door, "Why?"

"It's just that we've been searching this ship for 2 hours straight and there's just no one and nothing here", Chris replied, "We haven't even found some food or ammo here. Don't you think this is just a waste of time?"

"I understand that you think this is useless", Alice responded, "But I still think it's neccessary to search this ship from top to bottom."

"Why?" Chris asked.

"What?" a confused Alice asked back as she turned her head towards Chris.

"Is this because of what they've done to you? Umbrella?", Chris explained, "Is this because of this quest of yours to bring them down because they've injected some sort of virus into you?"

From the tone in Chris' voice, Alice detected that he still had trouble accepting her story about Umbrella experimenting on her and she couldn't blame him. During the 2 months that they had been at sea, she hadn't told him anything specific about Umbrella's experiments. She hadn't even told him about what exactly they'd done to her and the outcome of their doings. So no one could blame him for being sceptical about her whole story.

"You sound like you don't believe me", Alice responded.

The reason why Alice hadn't told Chris everything about Umbrella's experiments was because of the information being too sensitive to share. The horrifying stories of herself being injected with the T-Virus and being ressurrected with the aid of the same virus, that gruesome part of her history she just wanted to forget. In fact, she just wanted to forget every horrible aspect of the Umbrella Corporation, which was why she hadn't brought up anything about it in her conversations with Chris, even though he'd been curious to ask about it many times.

"Well, for someone who I've spend nearly 2 months with, you haven't told me about it much", Chris replied irritated, "So yeah, I guess it's kinda hard to believe..."

However, before Chris could finish his sentence, Alice had already opened another door and entered the room behind it. She just didn't want to talk about the involvement of Umbrella in her life, so she just ignored Chris and entered another unexplored room. Chris just had to deal with her not telling anything about it and he just had to respect her for it.

Chris let out an annoyed sigh. He just didn't understand what Alice was so afraid for. What was it about Umbrella's experiments that made her so secretive about them? Were they too horrible to mention? Or was Alice afraid he wouldn't believe her? Or maybe it was both of those things? Surely, she must know him better than that, especially since she'd spent nearly 2 whole months with him. Didn't she know that she could trust him with her life if needed to? So why didn't she just tell him? That's what Chris wanted to know as he waited for Alice to come out of the room she just entered.

"Maybe this will prove it to you", Alice's sudden voice sounded from the room she just entered.

With that, Chris' curiosity peaked, prompting him towards the door. Maybe Alice was going to tell him about Umbrella after all...

"What is it?" Chris asked as he entered the room.

However, upon entering the room, the first thing Chris noticed was the awful smell. It smelled like something died in it, which was indeed the case as he saw a dead crew member sitting on a chair behind a desk, which had a computer on it. A dead crew member that looked like a security guard to him. Guess they'd found the first sign of someone actually being on the ship. Pity he was dead as it appeared like he got shot to death, as evidenced by the bullet holes in his chest.

"My god", Chris said as he pulled his shirt over his nose and mouth to avoid the smell from entering his nose.

But the awful smell wasn't the only thing Chris noticed upon entering this room. Above the desk, the back wall of the room was mostly covered with tv monitors. Most of them were turned off, but some were showing security feeds. However, what they were showing went unnoticed by him as he turned his attention to Alice, who was standing next to the desk.

"Just look at the security screens", Alice suggested to him.

With that, Chris turned his gaze towards one of the tv monitors, which at first glance showed some sort of long grey hallway. But then Chris noticed something else. Along the hallway, there seemed to be massive cubicles of ice hanging from racks, which made Chris really confused. Why would someone stow away enormous ice cubes on this ship? It just didn't make any sense. However, upon a closer look, Chris saw that frozen within the ice cubes were both naked men and women, who were seemingly unconscious as they were curled up like balls.

"What the hell?" a shocked Chris exclaimed upon the sight of all these frozen human beings.

Chris just couldn't believe it. Was he truly seeing this? Were there truly frozen people in there? Rubbing his eyes, he quickly took another look at the screens to see if it was real. Unfortunately, it was.

"You believe me now?" Alice asked.

"Yes, but what are these people doing there?" Chris replied as he turned his gaze towards the woman next to him.

"Appearantly, they're human test subjects that were frozen in for transport", Alice explained calmly as she'd seen many things like this in her life before.

"But how can Umbrella transport them like this?", Chris asked, "Wouldn't there be someone reporting this to the police or something? Surely, they can't just get away with this."

"They had gotten away with this just like they had gotten away with experimenting on me", Alice responded.

Alice could tell from Chris' shocked expression that he still couldn't fathom the thought of Umbrella testing their viruses on living human beings, even though he'd just witnessed it for himself. However, she couldn't blame him. It was after all the first time he saw something Umbrella had been hiding from the general public, so of course it all seemed so unreal to him. She would've had the same reaction had she not known about these horrifying things for all of her life.

Chris looked back at the tv screens, still at awe of the sight he just witnessed. He still just couldn't believe what was going on.

However, that's when he turned towards the computer on the desk and started to type some of the keys on the keyboard in front of it. He wouldn't just stand still if he could do something about this. He just wouldn't. Not if he could make a difference in this.

"What are you doing?" Alice asked, surprised to find Chris suddenly typing his way through what seemed to be the ship's maps.

"I can't just stand by and watch these people", Chris exclaimed, "There must be something I can do. Now, according to the ship's maps, the hallway from the security feeds is in the cargo bay, which is just at the end of the hallway we are currently in."

"So what are you going to do once you get there?" Alice continued to ask.

"I'll figure that out later", Chris said as he turned away from the computer, "Right now, we just have to find this cargo bay."

With that, Chris left through the door with Alice following him into the hallway. Together, they made their way through it until they reached the door at the end, which had already been opened to their surprise. However, it also made them suspicious as they drew their guns and entered the cargo bay, where the freezing coldness quickly surrounded them. Foggy breaths were coming from their mouths as they made their way into the cold grey room.

Shivering from the cold and looking at the people inside the ice cubes, Alice quite quickly figured out that this cargo bay served as a huge fridge to preserve the test subjects stored in it, as evidence by the icicles that were hanging everywhere. Guess Umbrella had even more twisted surprises in store that she hadn't known about. From cloning technology to a large ice chamber to preserve their precious experiments, these guys were even more fucked up that she first thought they were.

Chris Redfield still was at awe as he witnessed the frozen people inside the ice cubes that were hanging on both sides of the cargo bay. As he was walking right behind Alice, he saw that the frozen men and women were indeed all naked and unconscious as they were rolled up like balls. Chills were running up his spine. It just seemed so unreal to him, like it was a dream or something. A very bad dream.

"I still can't believe Umbrella did this", a shivering Chris said as he still had his gun drawn, foggy breaths coming from his mouth.

"I know", Alice responded in a calm way, which Chris noticed.

"How can you be so calm about this?" a curious Chris asked, "Can't you see the sick things Umbrella has done to these people?"

"I'm calm, because this isn't the first time I've seen this kind of thing", Alice replied, "After the experiments they did on me, nothing Umbrella does is out of the ordinary for me."

With that, Chris thought about how, back in the Nevada desert, Alice stopped a bullet with just her mind. Umbrella had also experimented on her, which made it even worse. Not only had they frozen people for their own personal use, but they also injected all sorts of viruses into living human beings. It just sounded so sick to him. No wonder the world had gone to hell, especially since Umbrella had everything to do with it.

Now Chris also understood why Alice needed to revenge Umbrella. Due to the tests and experiments they did on her, she'd become something she never dreamed of becoming. A bioweapon at Umbrella's disposal. A horrible way to be used like that.

"I'm sorry", Chris apologized as he turned his attention to the woman in front of him.

However, that's when Chris realized Alice was gone. Instead of walking in front of him, she had suddenly disappeared without a trace.

"Alice?" Chris called as he started to look around.

It wasn't very long, though, that Chris found Alice standing in front of one of the ice cubes to the right of the hallway. She seemed to be in shock as she stared at the woman that was frozen in it. Whoever this woman was, from Alice's expression Chris figured it to be someone Alice recognized. Someone from her past, which made Chris curious about who it might be as he started to walk towards her.

Just like the other experiments in the room, the woman in the ice cube Alice was staring at was naked and unconscious. By the looks of things Chris estimated her to be at least 18 years old, which he tought to be a pity of such a young girl. Furthermore, he noticed this girl to be slender and fit, strawberry blonde hair flowing down her bare back. Her face was beautifully stunning with here and there a freckle. But other than that, Chris found nothing special about the girl, except for the fact that she was frozen in ice.

"You know this girl, don't you?" Chris asked after he reached Alice.

"Her name is Angela Ashford, daughter of the creator of the T-Virus", Alice calmly answered as she stared at the frozen girl in front of her.

"Seriously?" Chris gasped, "She's the kid of the one who did all this?"

"It's not like that", Alice defended Angela as she quickly turned her face towards Chris, "Her father just wanted to help her get rid of her sickness."

"Nice way of helping her then", Chris sarcastically said.

"Look, you don't know what she's been through and you never will", an angry Alice responded, "When I last saw her, she was just a happy kid. And now look at what Umbrella has done to her."

As Alice stared at the naked girl in the ice cube in front of her, she kept thinking about the first time they both met. She recalled it like it was yesterday. From the moment they met at the school in Raccoon City to the moment she was with Jill, Carlos, and L.J. when they rescued her from Detroit, Alice still remembered it clearly. And now she just hung there, all grown up and frozen inside an ice cube. It was just horrible to see her this way and it was all Umbrella's fault. They had caught her, kept her and used her. From the inside, Alice just wanted to scream as she saw her best friend frozen in ice. That's how badly she wanted Umbrella to be extinct.

"I know it's sad", Chris replied, "But just look at her. There's just no way you can get her out of that ice."

"Oh, you just watch me", Alice said menacingly as she suddenly walked away.

However, just as Chris wanted to ask where Alice was going, she already returned with an ice axe.

"Where'd you get that?" Chris asked.

"Just stand back", Alice warned as she walked right over to the ice cube.

Chris guessed that one of the ship's crew had left the ice axe in this cargo bay, which was quite fortunate for them. However, it wasn't important anymore as Alice started to dig through the ice with the item. Tiny pieces of ice started to fall down to the floor, with here and there a large chunk, as Alice continued to do this. She just wanted to get Angela out of the ice as quickly as possible and if this was the way to do it, then so be it. So she proceeded to dig through the ice with the axe until she'd be able to save her long lost friend.

After about half an hour, Alice had created a hole just big enough for Angela to slip through. Next, she proceeded to get the teenager out of the ice by pulling out her head first. The rest would follow later. However, once Angela's head, shoulders and arms were freed, the part of her body that was already out of the ice became too heavy for the slippery ice cube to hold her inside. So in just seconds, Angela's naked and limp form slipped out of the ice cube while being caught in Alice's strong arms. To Alice, it felt like a fish slipping out of someone's hand as Angela landed in her arms.

"Quick, something to get her warm", Alice shouted towards Chris, who quickly took off his backpack and started to go through it.

As soon as Angela was out of the ice and in Alice's arms, she carried her unconscious body over to the middle of the hallway, where she laid her on the floor. To her, Angela just felt so cold and her body just looked so pale that Alice questioned herself if she'd ever wake up. Fortunately for the girl in her arms, Chris had already gotten a white blanket out of his backpack to cover her nudity and to keep her warm in this freezing room. So he quickly walked over to the naked girl in the middle of the hallway and proceeded to lay down the blanket over her body. Next, Alice crouched down to Angela's body while Chris got up.

"I'm going to find her some clothes", Chris offered.

"Go", Alice yelled as she kept her focus on Angela.

Next, Chris started to make his way out of the cargo bay while Alice began to use CPR on Angela in the hopes of getting her awake.

"Come one, Angie, wake up!", Alice urgently said as she pounded her fist on the girl's chest and gave her mouth-to-mouth, "Come on!"

Alice just wanted this girl to wake up so badly. If she didn't, then all of her hopes and dreams of ever speaking to her again were gone and that was the last thing she even wanted. She just had to save Angela from Umbrella's cruel claws because she just deserved better. She didn't deserve to be an experiment, a test subject. She didn't deserve to be prod with and experimented on. No, she deserved a happy and healthy life instead of the life that she was given. She at least deserved that, so Alice continued to use CPR on Angela in desperate need to wake her op. She just had to wake up...

* * *

**Author's note: Angie is back! Finally, Angela Ashford makes a return. And even though she's 5 years older since the last time Alice has seen her (making her around 18/19 years old), I hope you guys to be as thrilled as I am to see her return to the storyline. Are you already curious about what Umbrella has done to her? And are you already wondering if she's ever going to wake up to tell her story to Alice? If your answer is "yes", then you definitely need to read the next chapters. I promise you that you won't be disappointed. **

**Meanwhile, I believe I've gone a little overboard considering the length of my chapters. Instead of the usual 2000-3000 words I've put in some of the previous chapters, this chapter and chapter 20 each have around 5000-6000 words. That's why I'm a little worried that I've put too much details and too little dialogue into my chapters. But the only way for me to know this for sure, is if you guys tell me if I'm right or wrong. So please don't hesitate to tell me your opinion, whether it's in a review or in a PM. Your reviews and comments will be highly appreciated and they'll make me very happy. And above all, they'll give me the willpower and strength to write more chapters. So please keep them coming. Thanks in advance and I'll see you next time. **


	22. Cat And Mouse

**Disclaimer: I don****'****t own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

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To Leon, it felt like time completely froze for this one moment. This one moment in time where everything just felt relaxed and peaceful. The bare skin of K-Mart's soft shoulder, the soft fabric of the towel she was wearing, his fingertips felt it all while he was holding her close. And even though the wet blonde locks, along with the tears she cried, were moisturizing the left shoulder of his newly put on black police vest, he didn't care about it as he just wanted to enjoy this moment while it lasted.

It all just felt so comfortable. Even comfortable enough to enjoy it while Leon saw the creature outside nearing further and further to the snow cabin. The creature with the non-existent eyes and a mouth full of razorsharp teeth that was dangerously leering at the 2 humans it saw through the window. A threat was upon them, that Leon knew. He knew exactly what to expect and what to do. Which was why chaos immediately broke loose after this comfortable moment. A quick and perilous chaos.

"Get down!" Leon shouted as he looked danger directly in its non-existent eyes.

Leon knew exactly what to do. As soon as the adrenaline started to kick in, he released K-Mart and fell down to his knees, his hand reaching for the white towel K-Mart was wearing. Next, he grabbed the soft white fabric and pulled it down, trying to get her out of harm's way. However, that's when the knot in K-Mart's towel got loose, which resulted in it almost slipping down had she not grabbed it and held it to her chest as she crashed to the wooden floor.

As soon as they both got to the floor, the earsplitting noise of glass shattering made its way to their ears as the creature jumped through the window like it was paper. In just a blink of an eye, Leon saw the creature making its way from the snow-covered soil outside to the living room inside as shards of glass rained down on both him and K-Mart. Little cuts were created on K-Mart's exposed skin, bleeding a little.

As soon as the creature had made its way into the living room, Leon sighed out of relief as it just missed them by mere inches. Instead, it jumped right overhead and crashlanded on the slippery wooden floor, resulting in it sliding through the room while knocking over furniture in the process.

Quickly after the danger had momentarily passed, Leon promptly got up from the floor and grabbed K-Mart by her arm, pulling her up from the floor while she desperately tried to hold onto the loose towel, shivering from the cold winds that came through the broken window. He could see that she was embarrassed as she was starting to blush while trying to cover her modesty. However, he still had to act swiftly, so he quickly turned towards her and cupped her face in his hands, looking deep into her eyes as she was clutching the piece of white fabric to her chest.

"Listen to me", Leon promptly said, "Get dressed. I'll meet you downstairs."

"But what about you?" a shivering K-Mart asked, not wanting to leave Leon behind with the creature.

Leon sighed. "I'll manage. Now go."

K-Mart looked back into Leon's eyes. She could tell by his look that he was serious about this. A determined and confident look that told her he needed to take care of this by himself without any distractions. No matter what she'd say to convince him otherwise, it just wouldn't work. Besides, she was only wearing a towel around her naked body, which wasn't such a good idea to wear while trying to fight this creature. So K-Mart definitely got the message Leon sent to her.

Nodding, K-Mart quickly turned around and made a run for the door while holding the towel tightly around her body. She hated leaving Leon behind with this monster, but she just had to trust him to handle this. That was the only option she had.

As soon as K-Mart had left the room through the door, Leon looked after her to secure her safety in case the creature came after her. However, that's when he heard the creature getting to its feet and turned his attention to it. Focused, he looked at the monster on the other end of the room with narrowed eyes, ready for the onslaught that was about to follow while he drew his gun.

Even without taking his eyes off of it, Leon already knew that the living room was a mess. Chairs were overturned, the wooden floor was ripped apart by the creature's claws and the living room table was ruined. Pure destruction, which was why he quickly aimed his gun at the creature's head in retaliation. He wouldn't just let this monster get away with this. Not ever. Chills were running down his spine, but he didn't care about it since all he wanted was this creature dead.

The next few minutes felt like a twinkling of an eye. As soon as the monster had gotten up, it was immediately clutching the ceiling next. Leon blinked. Not ever had he seen something this fast. He quickly moved up his gun, before the creature could escape again. Next, he immediately noticed the creature's tongue wrapping around his leg as he looked up. Guess he had to move quicker next time. In a reflex, he shot at the ceiling, which resulted in his leg getting unwrapped again as the creature hid behind the turned over couch.

"You wanna play hide and seek?" Leon shouted as he quickly shot at the couch, creating 2 dark holes in it as the creature jumped away, clutching the wall with its sharp claws.

"Me too", he said as he aimed his gun at the wall, fully intend to hit the creature this time around while it seemed to look back. However, as soon as Leon wanted to shoot, his gun ran out of ammo.

"Shit!"

Immediately, the creature lashed out its tongue towards Leon while he was looking at his gun. As the human wasn't paying attention, it was its chance to devour him. Unfortunately, that was when the human noticed and ducked out of the way in time.

After dodging the monster's grasp, Leon quickly reloaded his gun and got up from the floor, only to question himself what to do next. He knew this creature was too fast for him, that was already a certainty. No, he had to come up with a plan. A bulletproof plan to get rid of this monster for once and for all. But before he could figure out what to do, the creature jumped from the wall and moved towards him with an incredible speed.

Leon felt the adrenaline coursing through his body as soon as he evaded the monster's attack by jumping out of the way, after which he sighed with relief. This monster was impossible to get rid of, it seemed. With its speed, it was impossible to shoot and with its long tongue, you needed to keep a close eye on it before it wrapped the whip-like appendage around you, which wasn't such a great comforting thought. If Leon didn't come up with a plan soon, this cat-and-mouse chase could last forever, eventually wearing him out.

That's when Leon noticed the door to the kitchen, though, and quite quickly figured out what to do next. He only needed to distract this creature long enough to reach the kitchen and then he could work on his plan. If only it would work out the way he planned...

Turning around, he immediately raised his gun to shoot the creature, which seemed to be dazed after crashing into the wall. That didn't stop its assault, however, as evidenced by it shooting out its tongue once again at him. Leon quickly dove to the side, avoiding the attack yet keeping his focus as he watched the monster climbing up the wall to the ceiling. Once there, it let out a loud screech before jumping from the ceiling towards its would be meal.

Leon shot his gun just as quickly, missing the creature by just inches as he ran from his spot in the room.

"Dammit!" Leon cursed while dodging the thread. He had to perform his plan. Immediately!

The creature landed on all four limbs while the floorboards cracked under its weight. Looking at the human to its right, it suddenly noticed the gun firing off a bullet while a gunshot sounded throughout the cabin. Before it could notice it, the metal bullet had already left the gun and tore through its brain in just seconds. A deafening screech protruded from its mouth while the human immediately left for one of the doors in the room.

Now was Leon's chance. With the creature temporarily distracted, he hurried to the kitchen door, set on putting his plan into motion. It just had to work...

After arriving into the kitchen and slamming the door shut behind him, Leon looked around and quickly went over to one of the cupboards. Immediately, he pulled open one of the cupboard doors and began to look inside, hoping to find something that could aide his cause. That's when, inside one of the cupboards, Leon found a matchbook. Just the right item he needed.

"Yes!" he exclaimed as he grabbed the matchbook.

Slamming the cupboard door shut, Leon turned and went over to the stove. Quickly, he turned on each of the burners. The wooshing sound of gas quite quickly spread throughout the otherwise quiet kitchen. Next, Leon grabbed the garbage bin and shoved it to the middle of the kitchen floor before trying to light a match. Once a match had ignited, Leon dropped it into the bin where it caught fire.

Leon immediately made a run to another door, which led to the hallway, and opened it. Arriving into the hallway, Leon saw K-Mart hurrying down the wooden stairs that went to the first floor. In his opinion, she had dressed quite rapidly as she was already wearing a brown sweater, a pair of black jeans and boots of the same color on her feet. The same clothes his former girlfriend used to wear. Hence the reason why it looked quite weird on K-Mart. However, Leon shook off the thought as he felt exhausted by the gunfight while breathing heavily.

"Leon!" K-Mart loudly said as she ran downstairs and moved towards him.

"Are you alright?" she asked, "I heard gunshots."

"I'm fine", Leon replied, heavy breaths escaping his mouth, "We have to go."

Despite being out of breath, Leon quickly followed K-Mart towards the front door. However, that's when it happened. With an earsplitting sound of wood splintering, the creature burst through the living room door with a loud shriek. Immediately, it lashed out its tongue and wrapped it around Leon's leg, which made him tumble to the floor.

"Leon!" K-Mart screamed while she noticed him on the floor.

In just a matter of seconds, the monster began to pull Leon closer, getting ready to devour him. K-Mart rapidly dove down to the floor and grabbed Leon's hands just in time.

"Hold on!" K-Mart shouted through clenched teeth as she tried to get Leon away from the creature.

Leon clenched his teeth together as a sharp pain coursed through his body, originating from his leg. The strength with which the creature had wrapped its tongue around his leg was too big for him to handle, which was why he immediately thought of ways to get rid of it. It would not only take little time before the kitchen would explode, but the monster was also too strong for K-Mart. With all of her strength, she tried to pull him away, but it just wouldn't matter. She was just too weak.

With his one free hand, Leon pulled out his gun from the waistband of his pants while his other hand was held onto by K-Mart. Slowly, he felt himself slip into consciousness as he continued to lose his strength, though that didn't stop him from slowly aiming his gun at the creature's head.

"What are you doing?" a weary K-Mart shouted while she tried to pull Leon away with all of her strength. With all of the energy she had, she tried to hold onto Leon in a desperate need to save the one she loved. Slowly but surely, though, she got dragged along with him.

"Just trust me", Leon managed to say as he tried to pull the trigger.

With that, a sudden gunshot sounded throughout the otherwise quiet snow cabin. As if time completely slowed down, a bullet popped out of the muzzle of Leon's gun and flew right over to the creature's head with an amazing speed. In just seconds, the metal projectile reached the creature's head and penetrated its skin, coursing right through its brain until it went out the other end. An intense shriek followed, continued by the eventual release of Leon's leg.

Leon sighed as he started to feel his leg again. On the edge of consciousness, he just laid there, resting. The intense pain that coursed through his body was still there, which was why he was too weak to leave the snow cabin on foot as he continued to cough and breathe heavily. Quickly, though, K-Mart was there to his aid.

"Leon!" K-Mart cried as she kneeled down next to his body, "Leon, oh my god, are you alright?"

"We have to get out of here, quickly", Leon tried to say while coughing loudly and panting.

"Okay, just put your arm around me", K-Mart said as she sat Leon up by supporting his back.

The former police officer proceeded to lay down his arm on K-Mart's shoulder, just as instructed, as K-Mart got him up from the floor. His whole body hurt like hell, yet he didn't want the pain to stop him from fleeing the cabin. So he just leaned on K-Mart while stumbling towards the front door as fast as they could.

"Just stay with me", a worried K-Mart said as she noticed Leon on the verge of unconsciousness while opening the front door.

With all of her strength, K-Mart tried to drag Leon's near oblivious body out of the cabin and out on the porch. As soon as they left the hallway, cold winds immediately surrounded them, chills running down K-Mart's back. However, it didn't stop her from getting Leon out of harm's way. In front of the cabin, she saw the bright red snow mobile that would help them get away from this place, though K-Mart had an inkling feeling that she just couldn't leave the cabin behind that easily. Not when she had such fond memories of it.

However, that's when she heard a sudden loud explosion originating from the kitchen. K-Mart looked back. In just seconds, she saw the kitchen door being ripped apart from its hinges as a huge ball of fire erupted from the kitchen and surged down the hallway towards them. Feeling the burning heat moving closer and closer, K-Mart quickly dove down to the wooden floorboards, taking Leon with her to the ground as acting swiftly was the only way for them to not get fried.

Immediately, bright orange flames burst from the cabin, erupting with an earshattering noise. Chunks of wood rained down on both K-Mart and Leon, covering their clothes with spots of black soot. K-Mart held her hands above her head to avoid getting hit on the head with something. They both were lucky, though, to not get burnt as the flames just missed them by mere inches, the ball of fire spreading into the air as soon as it left the cabin.

K-Mart slowly opened her eyes shortly after the explosion had occurred. From behind her, she could hear the fire steadily spreading throughout the cabin, wood crackling with the sound of the wind. She was breathing heavily. Not ever had she had this much action in such a short time in her life. She just needed a minute as she was still lying forwards on the wooden porch. A moment of peace after the stressful morning she just had.

Steadily looking to her left, she saw Leon with his eyes closed. This immediately caused her senses to spike again after her minute of rest, as she quickly got to her knees and rolled Leon on his back. Putting her ear to his mouth, she sighed with relief. He was only unconscious and thankfully not dead, as evidenced by him still breathing, though this immediately prompted K-Mart to begin using CPR on him.

"Wake up, Leon", K-Mart said as she gave him mouth-to-mouth, "Just wake up."

Placing her hands on his chest, K-Mart used compression in hopes to get Leon to wake up. He just had to wake up. He just had to. She wouldn't just lose the biggest love of her life like this. She just couldn't. So she proceeded to give him mouth-to-mouth and compressions and she was planning to do it for as long as need be. For as long as neccessary, she'd try to save him. She'd try to save his life as she'd do anything for him. Anything.

* * *

**Author's note: Well, there you go. The snow cabin is destroyed and now Leon and K-Mart are forced to try to survive another nightmare. However, this time they're together, instead of K-Mart being alone. And there are a lot of surprises in store for them. You just wait and see. Just read the next couple of chapters and you'll find out exactly what's going to happen next. **

**Meanwhile, what did you think of this chapter? Did I write the action scenes well enough? Or have I put too much details into them, making them a borefest to read? I know that I usually write a lot of detailed descriptions of how my characters are acting and feeling, but that doesn't have to mean that it isn't interesting to read anymore. But maybe you can tell me? After all, you're the reader of my story. So please tell me how I'm doing with this. Thanks in advance.**


	23. Friendly Encounters?

**Disclaimer****:**** I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

Cold. It was so damn cold. Icicles were hanging from the grey walls and drainage pipes. Foggy breaths were coming from her mouth. The floor was freezing. Naked people were frozen inside ice cubes everywhere, hanging from racks like cattle to the slaughter. A horrible sight. And in the middle of it all sat Alice next to the young girl she was trying to wake.

"Come on, Angie", Alice pleaded as she continued her attempts to wake up Angela Ashford, "Please just wake up."

After for what felt like the hundred time of using mouth-to-mouth, tears welling up in her eyes, Alice looked down at the unconscious girl on the floor in front of her. Whatever she tried to wake Angela up, it just couldn't be bothered. Slowly, Alice started to sob silently. Angela's skin looked as pale as a sheet after being out of the sun for so long, and along with the fact that her eyes were still closed, it almost looked like she was dead. Thank god she wasn't dead, though, as evidenced by her beating pulse. Yet she still hadn't woken up, which worried Alice the most.

Despite the single tear that flowed down Alice's cheek, she, however, still felt the rise of anger in her throat. Anger towards the Umbrella Corporation. The white blanket covering Angela's naked body was proof of what they'd done to her. They had used her for their own gain, just like Alice herself had been through. They had taken everything away from Angela, even her clothes, and she was left naked and vulnerable in a ship's freezing cargo bay, frozen inside an ice cube. Alongside other people that had ended up here. A horrible fate for a young girl and a horrible fate for which Umbrella will pay immensely.

Angry, Alice decided to give it one more try. She wouldn't just give up. Not ever. She just had to try to save her best friend from Umbrella's clutches one more time. For that, she'd do anything. So she bent forward and gave Angela mouth-to-mouth once more, breathing air into her mouth. Next, a furious Alice made a fist and began to pound on the girl's chest while tears were flowing down her cheeks.

"Come on, damn it!" Alice shouted, crying, "Wake up! Wake the hell up! Come on!"

Various thoughts raced through Alice's mind as she continued the pounding on Angela's chest, but the most prominent one was the thought about the possibility of losing yet another dear one. After Claire's death, she just wasn't ready to lose another friend. Not again.

With all of her strength and willpower, Alice pounded on Angela's chest, as if to jumpstart her awake. However, that's when it happened. Angela suddenly started to cough and gasp for air as she opened her eyes and finally woke up. Like she had a really bad nightmare and was startled awake by it. Alice looked on with tears. Relief flooded her seeing Angela finally awake. After so many tries to resuscitate her, Alice's efforts finally paid off. Finally, for this one time Alice got to save someone from Umbrella's clutches after so many unsuccessful attempts. Hence the tears of joy as this wasn't another 'Carlos'.

Eyes wide, a bewildered Angela coughed and inhaled deeply as Alice helped her sit up by supporting her bare back. Immediately, Angela started to chatter her teeth and shudder her body due to the freezing coldness that surrounded her uncovered back side as she held the white blanket to her chest.

"It's alright, it's okay", Alice tried to calm the restless and confused girl down.

"A-a-a-a", Angela stuttered while slightly confused about the woman next to her, "A-a-alice?"

"That's right, Alice", Alice confirmed.

A shuddering and chattering Angela squeezed her eyes shut. It all just felt so confusing and strange to wake up to the unknown. Where was she? What happened to her? Why did everything feel so freaking cold? Why is Alice here? Has she got anything to do with what happened? Those were the questions that puzzled Angela and she just couldn't make sense of it all.

Opening her eyes, Angela looked down when she realized she was naked. All that was covering her front was a white blanket, nothing else. Her back side was entirely uncovered, being bare for the icy air to smack against it. Shock ran across her face as she blushed slightly. Where the heck were her clothes? She clutched the blanket tightly to her chest, feeling hugely embarassed. What the hell happened to her? And why was she suddenly a grown-up? Especially that last question bewildered and spooked her greatly, since the last she remembered, she was just a 13-year old girl. However, that's when she noticed something else too.

"Wh-wh-wh-wh", Angela stuttered, still not being able to form whole words.

"Where are you?" Alice finished Angela's question, "You're safe."

Angela squeezed again. "Wh-wh-wh-why can't I feel my legs?"

Confusion ran across both Angela and Alice's face. Definitely not a good sign, especially in Alice's case. It seemed like she didn't know what Angela was talking about.

"Alice", Angela spoke, now more clearly, as she wasn't buying Alice's confused expression, "Why can't I move my legs?"

"I-i don't know", Alice said as she looked at Angela's legs, confusion crossing her face.

With that, Angela looked at her legs in fear. She just didn't feel a thing, which scared her the most. Had she lost the feeling in her legs? That single question terrified the living hell out of her. Whatever she tried, her legs just didn't move nor feel anything. As a little girl, she always had nightmares about becoming a paraplegic like her dad. Now it seemed like those nightmares had come true. Chattering from the cold, the fear shook her to her core as she was scared to death about this sudden conclusion. What the freaking hell happened to her?

"Oh my god!", Angela screamed as tears started to form in her eyes, realising she was numb from the waist down.

Angela dug her face into Alice's warm embrace, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Oh my god!" Angela sobbed, crying her heart out as she held the blanket against her chest.

With all the effort, Alice tried to calm Angela down. The girl's legs being numb only made her all the more angry. The Umbrella Corporation did this! They made her the way she was now. They removed the T-Virus from her, rendering her legs useless. Alice had already sensed the low number of T-Virus inside her, but she had not expected it to be this bad. Not only had Umbrella used Angela for their own gain, but they also removed something from her that was her most valuable possession: the ability to walk. Who in their right minds would do that? This made Alice's anger boil inside her. No way Umbrella was getting away with this. No way!

* * *

_The canteen was at it's usual: crowded to the max. Crewmembers were talking, dinner was being served, the television was loud, darts were being thrown into a dartboard. The usual, as always in a canteen on a cargo ship. And especially on an Umbrella owned cargo ship, where it was the crew's job to keep the tub afloat as they made their way towards their delivery point. The crew which Chris Redfield was a part of._

_Standing in line for the kitchen, steadily pushing his white plate forward to receive his dinner, Chris looked around. One of his shipmates, a rookie called Steve Burnside, was with a group of people in one corner of the canteen, laughing with each other as they enjoyed their meals. In fact, Steve was the one telling the jokes while the others listened to him, occasionally causing them to laugh their butts off. It made Chris curious about what Steve was so funny about, as his fellow reddish brown-haired colleague had just returned from his station in Raccoon City about a week ago. _

_"That Steve Burnside", Chris suddenly heard the man behind him mumble, "Laughing and telling jokes like nothing happened. If someone should get burned, he'd be it."_

_Turning around to face his fellow shipmate, Chris stared right in the face of Owen Williams. A face which was adorned with a bit of stubble, a thin nose, blue-greyish eyes and a black spiky haircut. He was wearing the exact same military gear Chris was wearing, which consisted of army green camouflage pants and a similarly colored short-sleeved shirt. Chris had been working with Owen for the last 2 years and he'd never heard him bad-mouthing someone else. Hence the reason why Chris was so curious about this once-in-a-lifetime occurence._

_"What are you talking about?" Chris asked._

_"You haven't heard?"_

_"Heard what?" Chris' curiosity peaked even higher._

_"About Raccoon City being wiped off the face of the earth by a defected nuclear power plant", Owen told him._

_"I've heard some rumours", Chris replied, "Wasn't there some sort of viral outbreak right before that?"_

_Ever since the Raccoon City incident, word on the ship spread about the things that happened over there. Things such as the entire city being barricaded by the Umbrella Corporation in case the virus got out, but also rumours about people turning into cannibals once infected, though that last one sounded totally bogus, got whispered from one person to the other as soon as news broke out. Hence the reason Chris knew some bits and pieces about the incident._

_Chris kept thinking about his best friend Leon S. Kennedy and how he was doing, since the last thing he heard about him was that he was still positioned in Raccoon City. He wondered what happened to him. If the rumours were true, Leon must've gone through hell if he indeed survived the incident. It's not on a daily basis that some deadly virus got leaked, and especially not in a city where Leon was stationed. Which was why Chris kept thinking about him, wondering if he got out alive._

_"Exactly", Owen answered, "Normally, I'd ignore show-offs like Steve Burnside. But now I just can't get over the fact that hundreds, maybe thousands, of people died and now here he is, laughing like nothing ever happened. Like it's all a big joke."_

_"So what, don't you think he deserves this after the horrors he's been through?" Chris pointed out._

_"Maybe, but that doesn't justify the lives that have been lost", Owen tried to reason, "Whatever, it just bugs me, that's all."_

_"Just give it some time", Chris commented, "Maybe he'll get more responsible in the future."_

_"Steve Burnside?" a disbelieving Owen chuckled, "Yeah, right."_

_They both chuckled at that. Steve Burnside growing into a responsible adult just sounded too unreal to be true. As far as they both knew, Steve would always be a show-off, no matter what happened to him. From hurricanes to getting struck by lightning to the ship sinking, Steve Burnside would always stay the same unaccountable, not-a-care-in-the-world kid. Hence the reason why they both chuckled at Chris' comment. _

_"On another note, have you ever wondered what we're shipping?" Owen asked Chris out of the blue as the line in front of the kitchen moved forward._

_"I thought we were just transporting medical supplies?" Chris replied, "Isn't that what we're told?"_

_"I thought so too, but don't you think it's a little strange that no one seems to know what kind of medical supplies they are?"_

_"So what if it aren't medical supplies?" Chris shrugged, "What has that got to do with me?"_

_"So aren't you just a tiny bit curious?" Owen responded, "I know I am."_

_Chris thought about it. Was Owen right? Did Umbrella lie to them when they told the crew they were shipping medical supplies? If so, why did they lie? What were they hiding? It indeed sounded intriguing, coming from Owen. But still Chris had his doubts about the whole story. For all he knew, Owen made it all up, considering there was no proof. But what if he was right?_

_However, before Chris could respond, the line moved forward again and it was his turn to receive his dinner, which consisted of some delicious looking sushi with nasi goreng. Not exactly the meal he expected, since so far he had only been served meat, potatoes and vegetables on this voyage. Which was why he was surprised, yet contempt, with this food as his stomach was rumbling. He was really hungry, which was why he couldn't stay and talk to Owen any longer. Chris just needed to eat something as soon as possible. _

_"I don't know", Chris curtly answered, said goodbye to Owen and then walked from the kitchen and into the crowd._

_"The state governor personally thanked the Umbrella Corporation for their swift action. The perpetrators of the hoax, Jill Valentine and Carlos Oliveira are now being saught for questioning by the police", the television displayed a news item about Raccoon City in the background._

_Chris, however, payed no attention to the news broadcast as Owen's words continued to sound in his head. Chris was indeed curious, thinking about the slight possibility of them shipping something other than medical supplies towards their destination. So he sat down at a table and started his dinner, overthinking the words he heard today. What was true and what wasn't? Did Umbrella keep something hidden? And if so, what? That was the question Chris kept thinking about as he plunged his fork into the sushi and dug in._

* * *

The horrifying sight still baffled Chris Redfield. The gruesome images of people frozen inside ice cubes, naked and unconscious, property of the corporation which owned and had operated on this ship, Chris still couldn't shake it off. It still seemed like a really bad nightmare. How could Umbrella do this? How did this stay hidden from the rest of the world? The power Umbrella possessed seemed even bigger and more of an influence than Chris ever thought it was. An evil power controlling the most prominent resources the world had to offer.

Passing by the many grey doors of the ship, Chris was still looking for clothes for Angela Ashford to wear. As one of Umbrella's many victims, she had nothing to wear but the white blanket that was provided for her. Nothing else. Poor girl. Hence the reason why Chris was looking for some clothes. But so far, he'd found nothing but a few empty bullet casings, some rats scurrying to their hiding places and some rotten half-eaten piece of a cookie in a corner somewhere. Not exactly the things he was looking for.

It had been about half an hour since Chris had left the cargo bay and ever since then, he'd slowly made his way towards the ship's bridge. If anything, the ship's bridge would be the ideal place to find something useful. Hence the reason why that was the first place on his list to go to. There just had to be something there, of that Chris was certain as he was approaching the door to the ship's bridge. There just had to be something useful in there.

However, that's when he heard something coming from behind the door. Something other than the silence he'd heard for the past half hour. It sounded like someone, or multiple persons, talking inside the ship's bridge. Putting his ear against the door, Chris could hear it clearer now.

"So what are we going to do with them?" a male voice spoke.

"Nothing yet", another male voice responded. A voice that sounded familiar. "Just wait and they'll come to us."

Suspiciously, Chris drew his gun. Whatever these guys were up to, whoever they were, it sounded like no good, though on the other hand Chris was relieved to have found someone alive on board of this empty tub. Still, he wanted to approach this with the highest care, since no one on this ship, especially since this vessel was Umbrella's property, could be trusted.

Opening the door, Chris raised his gun and immediately pointed the weapon at the 2 men standing in the middle of the room. In only seconds, he saw that he was aiming his gun at a man in his mid-20s with long reddish brown hair and a man in his late-30s with short darkblonde hair. They both were wearing a khaki short sleeved shirt under a black tactical vest, which had the Umbrella-logo on the left chest, and army green pants with combat boots underneath it.

The two men in turn also didn't hesitate to return the favor by pointing their guns back at Chris. For a moment, the three of them were locked in place as the light of thunder flashing through the sky illuminated the room through the windows on the left side of the room.

"Chris Redfield?" one of the men sounded surprised and out of the blue as he slowly started to lower his gun.

It was only then that Chris recognized one of the men as his long lost fellow shipmate, Steve Burnside. For a moment, he just stood there, blinking. Standing in front of him was the man who Chris thought had died years ago during the Outbreak, which was the reason why he was astounded by the fact that Steve was still alive. After all of these years, The Rookie, as Steve had come to be called by the crew throughout the years they served together, was still alive against all odds. Unbelievable but true. Hence the reason why Chris still couldn't believe it.

"Rookie?" a surprised Chris exclaimed.

"Well, I'll be damned", Steve said as he walked towards Chris and gave him a bro-hug, "Long time, no see, mate."

A wide-eyed Chris still was astonished as he returned the hug. Though as he was looking over Steve's shoulder, he noticed the man with the short darkblonde hair lowering his gun as he was having a suspicious look about the whole scene that unfolded before him, like there was something he was not at liberty to discuss about.

"I can't believe it", Chris spoke while he unconfortably patted Steve on the back, unsure of whether or not to trust this whole ordeal or not.

"How long has it been?" Steve asked as he released Chris, "What, 5 years?"

"I guess", Chris estimated.

"So how have you been?" Steve asked, "You must've gone through hell. I know I have after the Outbreak."

"It hasn't been easy, but I survived", Chris answered solemnly.

"I know, right?", Steve said, "If I had known shit was going to hit the fan, I would've booked a trip to something tropical, you know?"

Chris was confused. Had Steve not been to Raccoon City all these years ago? So why would he acknowledge the fact that he didn't know what was coming? That's what puzzled Chris. For sure, Steve must've known what was coming, as evidenced by the viral outbreak starting over there, right in that city? Wouldn't he have been moved out of Raccoon City, if not for his own safety? And if not, then why did he return to the ship Chris himself was serving on? Surely, there must be something he wasn't telling.

"You didn't know about Raccoon City being the place of the Outbreak's origin?" Chris asked, both curiously and suspiciously.

"Not really", Steve responded, "Look, I only heard about that city being nuked after all was said and done with. I was long gone before any of that happened."

Now Chris understood the reason why Steve was always so casual about his time in Raccoon City. It was because he wasn't there when the Outbreak initially started, so he never went through the horrible stuff over there. Now it all had become crystal clear.

"Chris, I want you to meet Kevin Dooley", Steve introduced the man with the darkblonde hair, who had been waiting in the background, "He's a chopper pilot."

Both Chris and Kevin shook hands. "Chris Redfield", Chris introduced himself.

The thought of this Kevin being a chopper pilot intrigued Chris as he thought about the helicopter that was parked on deck. Maybe this man could become of good use to both him, Alice and possibly Angela, despite the fact that he was an Umbrella operative. It would be the hardest task trying to convince Alice of this idea, though. She wouldn't just buy this whole 'he's a chopper pilot, so he could fly us to Tokyo'-scenario. Not in a million years.

Chris himself wouldn't have bought the same thing 2 months ago, when he'd found out his sister had died. Right during that time, his angry mind was full of revenge against Umbrella. But ever since then, he'd cooled off and had thought his revenge plan over. There was just no way he'd be able to take on all of Umbrella's employees. That would be suicide. But to go after the big bosses, the head honchos, the ones who had orchestrated the whole Outbreak, that sounded like a better plan. A plan smart enough to risk trusting shady Umbrella employees such as the ones he was with now. Hence the reason why he was planning to use Kevin to possibly reach his goals.

"Wait a minute", Chris suddenly noticed, "If he's a chopper pilot and there's a helicopter parked right on that deck, then why aren't you two already off this ship?"

Chris had a point here. There was nothing left to do on this ship and Chris imagined the food supply to run low during the weeks, or even months, that this ship was stranded here. And then there was the possibility of having the undead aboard this ship. Not exactly a place to get confortable and hang around. Hence the reason why Chris asked this question, curious as to what the answer was going to be as he imagined this ship to be the last place anyone wanted to stay on.

"And face the monstrosities that lurk about there?" Steve said, "No way in hell, mate."

"You chicken, Rookie?" Chris asked surprised and chuckled. If he didn't know better, he'd say that Steve was afraid of going out there. Was he the tough and not-a-care-in-the-world marine Chris had come to know all those years ago? Or did he finally show his real colors?

"Look, you'd be nervous too if you didn't know what the hell you were transporting", Steve defended himself, "For all I know, there could've been some serious shit inside that cargo bay. So it was just best to hole up in here and wait for rescue to come."

"So I'm right after all. You are scared!" Chris said with delight, "Well, tell you what, if I'll tell you what's inside the cargo bay, will you come with me? There are some people I want you to meet."

Steve looked at Kevin while the latter looked back, as if to discuss this plan of action without actually saying a word. Next, Steve turned his attention back to Chris and gave a nod, "Sounds like a plan."

"Allright then, let's get out of here" Chris said, went through the door and lead the way out of the ship's bridge.

Next, the three of them made their way towards the cargo bay, leaving the ship's bridge behind them.

* * *

**Author's note: Since I barely haven't gotten any reviews from you guys ever since I've uploaded chapter 19, I hoped you to be happy with the addition of not only 1, but 2 new characters! And trust me, Steve and Kevin aren't as innocent and cowardly as they pretend to be. What they are up to, you just have to read in the next chapters. So just be patient and in time, you'll find out exactly how these 2 Umbrella men are going to play into the story and whether they have good or bad intentions. So please stick to this story. I promise that you won't be disappointed once you continue to read.**

**Meanwhile, what do you think about Angela's condition? Her being crippled by Umbrella is truly the most horrible thing ever to happen to a human being, right? Why they've done this to her? Well, why don't you figure this out for yourself? After all, you only need to read the next chapters to find out what's going to happen next. So please don't hesitate to click on the next chapter. **

**Please review, review, review. You don't know half of how happy I'm going to be once I get a review from you. So please click on the review-button below and tell me what you think of this story. Do you think it's good or bad? And do you like the direction in which everything goes? Please share your opinion, whether you think this story is awesome or absolutely distasteful. Either way, please tell me. Thanks in advance and I'll see you next time. **


	24. Former Value

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

_Rain was pouring down on Tom Hansen as he continued the investigation aboard the Eastern Spirit, a Russian whaler that had mysteriously lost all communications with the main land. Something had happened here, of that he was sure as the rain drenched his tactical vest. So far, he and his team had been sent out in the middle of the raging storm that was currently going on, unaware of what surprises were waiting ahead of them._

_"Hey Walker, did you hear that?" Tom heard one of the men from his team say over his earpiece._

_"Hear what?" Walker, another team member, responded._

_"What's that smell?"_

_"These old Russian whalers all stink to high heaven", was Walker's reaction._

_"Leon..."_

_Tom continued on, walking towards the front of the ship while waves of salty water crashed down on the deck. The ship bobbing up and down made it harder to walk, but that didn't halt Tom's investigation. Instead, he was curious about the mystery that surrounded the ship. Why on earth would he have been called in to look for anything suspicious aboard this vessel? By the CIA out of all organisations? That's what he wanted to find out._

_"Leon..."_

_Suddenly, there was a noise..._

_"What's that?" Tom heard a shocked Walker suddenly exclaim._

_"Open fire! Open fire!" was the quick response as all hell broke loose, machine guns blazing._

_"Holy shit!" Tom could just about hear over the gunfire._

_"Leon!" _

_Suddenly, it felt like Leon nearly had a heart attack as he felt a hand grabbing his left shoulder. Quickly spinning around on his swiveling chair, he stared right into the dark eyes of his Spanish colleague, Luis Sera, who quickly retracted his hand as if he was afraid Leon was going to shoot him or something. Suddenly, Leon was right back in the real world, instead of the imaginary world of the survival horror video game he had been playing on his computer screen. As if he was abruptly awakened from a deep slumber, he was right back behind his desk in the same old police station he'd been doing his job for years._

_"What?" an out of breath Leon asked as he heard a few of his colleagues chuckle._

_"Chief wants to speak to you", Luis responded casually with a slight Spanish accent, as if he was pretending not to be slightly startled by Leon's sudden reaction._

_Leon nodded and swiveled back towards his desk after Luis had quickly walked away, both men calming down from the sudden interruption. Tom Hansen, the lead character of the video game, was now standing still as he tried to keep his balance aboard the unsteady ship. _

_Along his desk, Leon noticed the disorganized sea of white that spread for miles and miles. A huge pile of jumbled up papers, from unfilled forms to hundred years old paperwork, was clouding the darkgray desktop that was once a clean and accessible place to work at. It just about didn't cover up his computer's keyboard as half of a pink glaced donut was sitting right next to it. It all just looked like a real big mess. _

_"Man, this place really needs a clean-up!" went through his mind._

_Picking up his donut and shutting down his video game, Leon got up from his chair and made his way over to the Chief's office, though he already had a slight idea about what the Chief was going to say. The Outbreak happened 2 years ago and the Virus had spread all over the world, except for most of Alaska, where Leon had run off to after the horrors he'd witnessed in Raccoon City. Why did Alaska not get infected? Leon didn't know either. Maybe zombies didn't like the freezing coldness of the continent, maybe they just didn't like eating the people over there. Fact is that the virus hadn't reached Alaska yet, for which Leon was grateful._

_Opening the door to the Chief's office, Leon saw his boss staring at his computer screen while clicking his mouse a couple of times. As opposed to Leon's desk, the Chief's desk was neatly organized. All papers were filed away, paperclips weren't all scattered over the desktop and pens, pencils and other utensils were stylishly standing in their holder. Leon had a hard time not being jealous about it._

_"You wanted to see me?" Leon asked while closing the door behind him._

_"Yes, Leon, please sit down", the Chief said._

_Leon proceeded to sit down as he focused on his boss, prepared to listen to every word the man had to say._

_"As you may well know, drug smuggling has increased immensely over the last couple of years, mostly because of the Virus", the Chief began._

_Leon nodded. He knew that especially illegal drugs had become one of the favorites amongst drug smugglers the last few years. With the Virus spreading quickly and the chances of surviving becoming smaller every day, it came as no surprise that people were willing to do anything to live, even buying illegal drugs if it could save them from a horrible death. Hence the reason why the police had their hands full with these drug cases. Work had really been immense the last couple of months. Hence the reason why Leon was enjoying his video game earlier. Taking his break had been really great, but now it was right back to business._

_"Well, word from the folks over at Kenai is that there are drug smugglers right on their way over here, to Cooper Landing", the Chief continued._

_"And you want me to find out who they are and what they are up to?" Leon suggested._

_"Exactly", the Chief confirmed, "Look, the whole police department is swamped and I know that you haven't got that much time either..."_

_"It's okay, Chief", Leon interrupted, ambitiously but also slightly annoyed with the extra workload, "I've got time."_

_"Good to hear", the Chief sounded assured, "Go on then."_

_With that, Leon got up from his chair and walked out of the office. The extra workload would really be tough on him, but he also didn't want to disappoint his boss. In the 15 months that Leon had been working in this town, he'd learned that Cooper Landing was the place where nothing ever happened. Hardly any crime was committed here, it seemed. Hence the reason why the local police department had taken on several drugcases from nearby police departments, having a reason to do their jobs instead of hanging around doing nothing. _

_But now that drug smugglers were on their way to town, it seemed like things were going to change this time around, which was the reason why Leon had taken on this case despite the heavier workload it would provide. Finally, the once in a lifetime opportunity he had been waiting for was waiting right around the corner and this was his chance to take it. Finally, he could bring in some action in this small meaningless town, putting it on the map where it belonged. Finally, he could smile about this case._

* * *

Bright burning flames seemed to be dancing right in front of his eyes, moving to the rhythm of logs crackling. The wind rustled the pine trees, the fire illuminating them as the only source of light in the dark forest. Wolves could be heard howling in the far distance, along with the faint moaning of the undead.

Leon S. Kennedy was deep in thought, staring at the campfire as if he was hypnotized by it. The flames reminded him of his snow cabin, which by now had been burned down to the ground. By the time he was awakened from his unconsciousness by K-Mart this morning, the fire had already spread into the living room and was slowly making its way upstairs. Nothing from inside could be saved anymore. No bullets, no extra clothing. Not even his silver case full of Anti-Virus was even worth the trouble anymore. All they could do, was watch the destruction of the snow cabin with their very eyes.

Ever since then, they moved on. Travelling through the forest on Leon's bright red snow mobile, he and K-Mart began looking for civilization, which Leon knew was at least 2 or 3 days away. So they had to camp out for the night, setting up a campfire as the both of them were sitting on a log. K-Mart was sitting right next to him, being as quiet as he was. They both were enjoying the moon shining through the thick pine tree forest, though it didn't last for long as Leon suddenly felt K-Mart's hand on his shoulder, almost startling him. He turned his face towards her.

"Are you alright?", K-Mart asked, "You haven't said a word to me all day."

"Hm-m", Leon said, turning towards the fire again.

"You thinking about the cabin?" K-Mart continued, "I miss it too."

"It's just that sometimes, I can't stand this world, you know?" an angry Leon's attention was on K-Mart again, "It's all just messed up."

"I know", K-Mart tried to be reassuring, though from Leon's expression she deduced that it didn't help much.

K-Mart hated leaving the cabin behind this morning. From being cured from infection to falling in love with Leon, it all happened right in that wooden structure. As have all of the wonderful memories from the past 2 months. They all just happened right there, and now it was just gone. One moment they woke up peacefully, kissing each other good morning, and the next, a horrible creature had crashed into the cabin, making their life a living hell. The sight of the cabin burning down ruined everything. They could've lived happily ever after, but now they had to camp out in the open air, danger lurking behind every tree. It was just unfair!

"Why haven't you told me about your ex-girlfriend?" K-Mart asked, hoping to change the subject.

"What about her?" Leon replied.

"Well, for one I'm wearing her clothes", K-Mart said.

"Oh yeah, that", Leon sighed, "Guess I hadn't come around to cleaning up that closet."

"So how about it?" K-Mart inquired after a short pause.

"We met in Raccoon City, right before the Outbreak", Leon began, "We were colleagues back then. About 8 months ago, we met again. This time she was trying to smuggle the Anti-Virus and sell it to the highest bidder. I stopped her. When the Virus began to spread into Alaska, we both skipped town, eventually ending in the cabin."

K-Mart was quiet. She didn't think Leon and his ex-girlfriend shared so much history together. But now it had become apparent that they'd spent quite some time with each other. Several questions sprang to mind. What was her name? How was their relationship like? Where was she now? And what was the reason behind Leon keeping her clothes in his closet? Was he still not over her? Should she feel jealous? K-Mart started to imagine the worst as she still was unsure about all of this.

"What was her name?" K-Mart asked.

"Her name was Lisa. Lisa Trevor", Leon responded.

From the look on K-Mart's face, Leon could tell that she was feeling uncomfortable. Something inside her that was still unsure about his love for her.

"She's long gone", Leon tried to reassure her.

"What happened to her?"

"She's dead", Leon tried to act casual about it, "One morning, she went looking for firewood. Never returned. Anyway, I don't like to talk about it much."

K-Mart understood what Leon had been going through, losing his ex-girlfriend like that. It's not everyday that someone you love ends up dead, though in this infected world you never knew. Still, it seemed like this woman had a special place in Leon's heart. A piece of him that seemed irreplaceable, even though Leon tried to act like nothing ever happened. He still felt something for her, something he couldn't share with his current girlfriend.

The thought of Leon still having feelings for his last girlfriend made K-Mart feel even more uncomfortable, even though it felt unjustified that she was jealous of someone who was dead. His former girlfriend was gone, yet K-Mart still had her doubts. Could Leon actually give himself completely to her? Or would Lisa always be in his heart? Especially the fact that he didn't like to talk about her much didn't sit well with K-Mart. K-Mart tried to hold onto the thought that Leon would forget about Lisa in the long run, but everytime insecurity seemed to knock on her door in a heartbeat. Eventually, K-Mart just couldn't hold it out any longer. She just wanted some air, which was why she stood up from the log.

"Where are you going?" Leon asked after K-Mart had gotten up.

"Looking for firewood", K-Mart replied.

"You're not jealous, are you?" Leon wanted to know for sure.

"Nah, jealousy doesn't suit me", K-Mart pretended and started to walk away.

"Be careful out there", Leon called after her.

Leon knew better than to believe every word coming out of K-Mart's mouth. She was jealous, of that he was sure. Why else would she suddenly stand up and start collecting some firewood when they were about to go to sleep anyway? Sure, he'd stand guard to protect her from the undead, but still there was no reason to go out there by herself. Leon was worried about K-Mart. What if she, like his former girlfriend, wouldn't return? What then? He wasn't ready to lose another girlfriend. Not when he had a new chance on love. He wouldn't just lose another love like that. K-Mart could count on that.

Worried, Leon started to follow K-Mart into the woods, set on making sure she was safe.

* * *

**Author's note: Well, there you have it. K-Mart is going to get some firewood and it's up to Leon to stop her from getting into danger. I know that this chapter might not be as exciting as the previous chapters, but I promise that there's going to be a lot of character development in the future of this story. You just wait and see.**

**Meanwhile, I****'****m still open for your reviews and comments. Please tell me: How is my writing? Has it improved? Or has this story been a bore to read? You tell me. Please let me know what you think. Pretty please? Thanks in advance. **


	25. Trust

**Disclaimer****: I don't own Resident Evil, Capcom does.**

* * *

_8-year old Angela Ashford was having the time of her life, getting dizzy on the merry-go-around. Spinning in circles, everything felt whoozy as she held herself tightly to the handlebars, but she only cared about having fun while she saw her Daddy looking on from a distance. It was a sunny midsummer afternoon, the sun shining brightly and people seeking coolness in the shadows of the trees. _

_She saw Daddy in what was called a wheelchair, waving at her. He was bound to what Angela thought of as this silly looking vehicle, because his legs didn't work somehow. Angela didn't know how or why, which was why her Daddy's condition puzzled her. Maybe she could ask about it later when she's done playing._

_The playground was spinning around as Angela got off the merry-go-around, her legs feeling wobbly. It took a while to get accostumed to solid ground beneath her feet. She soon regained her balance, though, and ran towards Daddy._

_"Daddy Daddy push me on the swings", Angela yelled and gave her father a hug._

_"Okay, but not too long", her Daddy said, "Okay, Angie?"_

_Angela nodded smiling and cheerfully ran towards the swings, her Daddy steadily wheeling himself behind her. Everytime, being pushed on the swings by Daddy was special, because this was one of only a few things that they could do together, instead of Daddy only sitting by in his wheelchair. _

_"I want to go high", Angela said and sat down on one of the swings._

_"Okay, just hold on tight", Daddy instructed._

_With that, Angela felt the strong hands of her Daddy pushing her forwards, then wheeling himself back again and repeating the same cycle once she came swinging back. Angela felt herself swinging higher and higher with every push Daddy gave her, pumping her legs out then in. It felt wonderfabulous, like flying without wings. Like there was no gravity pulling her down. Angela screamed till there was no more air left, giggling like mad in the bright sunlight of this warm midsummer day. It just felt amazing._

_After a while, Angela could almost touch the sky as the swinging set shook a little with every swing. A cloud had moved in front of the sun, yet it still felt like there was no tomorrow. Daddy was gone. Maybe he was getting her ice cream, maybe he'd gone to the toilet. Angela didn't know. He'd be back soon, she imagined. Hence the reason why she continued swinging, getting as high as the clouds, as she wanted to make this feeling last forever._

_Swinging down, Angela suddenly felt a weird tingling feeling in her legs. Like sparks of electricity made their way from her toes up to her waist. She tried to pump her legs in as she swung over the ground, but her legs didn't move. Moving forward again, she tried to pump her legs out, but that didn't work either. Angela was confused. Why all of a sudden didn't her legs work the way they were supposed to? What was happening? She closed her eyes, hoping the tingling feeling would go away. However, it didn't. It only seemed to become worse._

_Angela became scared as dark clouds were looming above her, hiding the sun and casting everything in darkness. Whatever she tried to do, her legs didn't move not even a bit._

_"Daddy?" Angela looked around, but Daddy was nowhere in sight. Neither was anyone else as the whole playground was vacant._

_Angela was beginning to panick as she was getting higher and higher on the swings. She didn't feel anything in her legs, which terrified her. It felt like the feeling was sucked out of her legs somehow, and she had no choice but to keep sitting on the swing, moving back and forth in a continuous cycle. It was terrifying, especially since she couldn't use her legs in case she fell off the swing. She firmly held onto the ropes, afraid of tumbling off. Why was this happening to her? What was happening to her legs? Why didn't she feel anything? The more she thought about it, the more terrified she became. _

_"Daddy! Daddy!" Angela screamed in terror._

_Looking down, a frantic Angela saw her legs dangling loosely with the swing's movement. She wouldn't dare hopping off the swing, afraid of getting hurt, yet continuing to sit wasn't an option either. What was happening to her? What was wrong with her legs? Where's Daddy? She needed him so much right now. _

_"Daddy! Help me!" Angela screamed to her heart's content, yet there was no reply._

_Holding tightly onto the ropes, Angela screamed in terror, squeezing her eyes shut. She felt terrified, hoping this moment would go away quickly. The most fantastic feeling she had earlier had been replaced with being scared out of her mind. Holding her eyes squeezed shut, she just hoped this was a really bad nightmare._

_And then, all of a sudden, it felt like gravity vanished and a weird sensation coursed throughout her, like she fell off the swing or something._

_"Daddy!" Angela screamed as she sat upright in bed._

_Gasping for air, Angela quickly noticed that everything was dark, the moon shining through the curtains. She was wearing pyjamas and she was in her own safe bed._

_"Angie, what is it?" she heard her Daddy's muffled voice behind the door._

_Realizing she had just woken up from a nightmare, a frantic Angela quickly climbed out of bed, glad to have the feeling in her legs back, and got to the door, opening it. Apparently, Daddy had heard her screaming for him in her nightmare, as he was right there behind the door, sitting in his wheelchair. She immediately dug her face into her Daddy's shoulder, starting to cry and climbing onto Daddy's lap._

_"Did you have a nightmare again?" Daddy asked._

_Angela nodded while keeping her face burried into her Daddy's warm shoulder. A comforting hand was laid down on her back, padding her._

_"It's going to be alright", her Daddy tried to calm the little girl down, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I promise you that."_

_Sobbing and crying, Angela kept sitting on her Daddy's lap while being comforted by him. She hated having nightmares. Especially nightmares about her legs going numb, which had been occurring alot lately. Maybe they had something to do with the injections she had to take during the day, maybe it had something to do with her finding out more about the Umbrella Corporation, Daddy's boss, the other day. Maybe it was both. Fact was that she hated having nightmares, even so much that she regretted finding out more about Umbrella if that was the cause._

_Angela was glad that Daddy would always be there and he wouldn't go anywhere. If it wasn't for him, she wouldn't know what to do right now. Hence the reason why she felt relief wash over her as she cried her heart out on Daddy's lap. He would always be there and he wasn't going anywhere. She could rely on that forever. Daddy was the one she could count on in her time of need. Whatever happened, she just needed him. Just Daddy._

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Foggy breaths were escaping Angela's mouth as she continued to shiver heavily and chatter her teeth. The freezing coldness felt like hell, especially since she was barely wearing anything to keep her warm. Her legs being paralyzed, the naked people inside the ice cubes around her, herself only wearing a white blanket and nothing else; it felt like pure and utter hell. Still, she kept trying to remember, even though her mind continued to draw a blank. What happened to her? That's what she wanted to figure out.

"I wonder what happened to her", Angela pondered.

"Who?" Alice asked, stroking the girl's hair as Angela rested her head against her chest.

"Jill", Angela replied, "If Umbrella got to me, then they have her too."

"What makes you say that?"

"Last I remember, she was in the car with me when we crashed", Angela pointed out, "Next I woke up here. No doubt that they also retrieved her from the car. Bastards!"

"I know", Alice tried to be calm, still she was just as angry as Angela was.

For the past hour and a half, Chris hadn't returned yet. Alice wondered what took him so long. Finding some clothes didn't take this long, now did it? Then another thought came to mind. What if he had encountered an undead? Shaking off the thought, Alice sighed, her breath condensating immediately. She shuddered from the cold.

After calming Angela down for what felt like an eternity, the both of them just sat there. The loss of the feeling in Angela's legs had been devestating, to say the least. Never in a million years did Alice think that Umbrella would take away one's ability to walk. Still it happened, which made her furious. After finding out, Angela just couldn't be calmed down. She kept crying, and Alice was there to dry her tears. It was like a nightmare to her. A nightmare from which she couldn't escape. She was just stuck and there was nothing in the world that would even be close enough to repair the damage. It was just devestating to see her like this. Damn Umbrella and their fucking experiments!

In the mean time, Alice had wrapped the white blanket around Angela's body to keep her warm, holding her close to share some body heat and comfort her. The hallway they were in was freezing cold. It felt like they were on the north pole. Hell, even Alice herself needed some body heat to stay warm. Still, they needed to stay put. Going out there without back-up wouldn't be such a good idea. What if there were zombies out there? She wouldn't endanger Angela even more, especially now she couldn't walk. So they had to stay inside the cargo hold, where they'd be safe.

"What keeps him so long?" Alice sighed.

"Who? Chris?" Angela asked, "I thought he was only going to get me some clothes."

"I guess it took him longer than I thought", Alice said.

However, that was when they both heard the door to the cargo hold slowly opening, which made them both turn their curious heads towards the sound. However, nothing could be seen entering the room, which made them both suspicious.

"What was that?" Angela said.

Alice was immediately on high alert. Something in the way the door opened seemed untrustworthy. It opened too quietly for a human to pass through. And along with the fact that they both didn't see anyone, seemed too much of a coincidence. Drawing her gun, Alice stood up, letting Angela sit on the floor as the girl put one hand on the floor behind her back while the other held the blanket against her chest.

"Just stay put", Alice warned as she steadily made her way towards the door, her gun drawn out in front of her.

Slowly passing by the icecubes, Alice grew nervous. Obviously, Chris wasn't the one entering the cargo hold. So who else did they share this room with? An undead? An Umbrella-employee? Even though neather had been seen so far on this ship? Who could it be? Maybe he, or she, would be waiting behind one of the ice cubes, about to jump out and scare the living shit out of her? Alice only hoped against it.

A low moaning sound could be heard, echoing off the walls. A clear indication that an undead was around. Only the question was: Where? Where was it hiding its rotten face?

"Alice, I'm scared", Angela whispered as to not to attract the zombie, shrinking a little on the floor.

A careful Alice, however, kept her focus on whatever surprises were waiting ahead. She didn't want to be in for something horrible to happen as the adrenaline coursed through her bloodstream. So she stayed quiet, keeping her attention on her goal. She didn't want to lose her focus, especially now. Everything was quiet, except for the moaning, which sounded louder and louder as Alice continued to walk. She was getting closer. She could feel it. It would only be a matter of time before she found it. Only a short while before it would show itself to her.

However, the next few minutes were crucial. All of a sudden, a dark shadow appeared on Alice's left side, scaring the living shit out of her. Turning around, she quickly aimed the gun at the undead that was lunging for her. However, a clicking sound made her realise the gun was out of ammo.

"Shit!"

Alice fell to the floor, the zombie on top of her. Her survival instinct kicking in, she struggled while the zombie tried to take a chunk clean right out of her neck. The gun was knocked out of her hand, skidding over the cold floor. With all of her strength, Alice tried to keep the blood-stained mouth away from her. The zombie, though, was very strong and not easily overthrown as it craved for her flesh. Which was why the struggle continued, both parties trying to get what they wanted.

"Alice!" Angela screamed as she fell on the floor, her legs unable to use, and started to crawl her way over.

Keeping the blanket around her body with one hand and pulling herself forwards over the floor with the other hand, it wasn't easy to move around. Especially since she was numb from the waist down, Angela had a hard time reaching Alice. Damn paralysis! Still she tried, her teeth clenched together as she groaned everytime her body slided over the freezing floor. It hurt like hell, still she had to save Alice from the undead's clutches.

Grabbing the zombie by the throat, Alice attempted to keep herself from being bitten. Yet it wasn't easy. Despite her powers, she still had trouble throwing the undead off of her. The struggle continued, the zombie trying to overpower her. From the corner of her eye, Alice saw Angela nearing her.

"Angie, no!" Alice yelled as she used all of the power in her body to keep the zombie away from her.

This was pure survival. The zombie trying to take a chunk clean out of her and Alice on the other hand trying to keep herself from being bitten. This was the moment of truth, the moment in which it would be a matter of life and death. With all of her strength, Alice tried to hold onto life as good and as bad as she could while the undead tried everything it could to feast on a fresh piece of meat. To Alice, the struggle seemed to last for hours. Until something happened...

Just as it seemed like Alice was about to lose the fight, gunshots all of a sudden rang out, echoing off the frozen walls. It sounded like thunder. Someone had entered the room. Someone with a smoking gun...

Next, it soon dawned on Alice that the undead wasn't moving anymore. Like a strike of lightning, the undead all of a sudden stopped trying to attack her as it went limp on top of her, like its battery had died or something. Feeling the litteral dead weight of the zombie weighing down on her, Alice sighed out of relief. Finally, the fight was over. And that only because someone shot it. Worried that Angela might've also been hit, Alice looked to her left. Angela seemed unharmed, though, which was much to her relief. Still she wanted to know who shot the undead.

Throwing the undead off of her, Alice looked in the direction the gunshot came from and saw Chris hurrying over to where she was, reaching out his hand to her.

"Are you alright?" a worried Chris asked.

"You're back", Alice let out a sigh of relief, breathing heavily from the fight. As she was brought to her feet by him, Alice was glad to finally see him return.

"Of course. Looked like you needed some help."

"Did you find anything?" Alice asked as she looked past Chris to see the 2 suspicious looking men standing behind him. Both had the Umbrella-logo on their left chests, indicating them to be Umbrella employees. One of them, she noticed, had reddish brown hair and the other had darkblonde hair.

"Not yet" Chris replied as he turned toward's Alice's point of interest.

"What's going on? Who are they?" Alice raised her angry voice as she looked in Steve and Kevin's direction.

A million questions floated around in Alice's confused and angry mind as her blood pressure started to boil. Why the hell would Chris bring Umbrella employees along? Why for God's sake? Was he stupid or something? Didn't he know that she hated Umbrella? What the hell was he thinking, taking them here? And for curiosity's sake, didn't he also hate Umbrella for what they'd done to his sister? So why the hell did he do this? Why? That was all Alice wanted to know.

Despite the relief Alice felt to finally find some survivors aboard the ship, anger boiled up inside of her seeing these Umbrella employees. They had no right to live! Not after what they'd done to Angela! She was furious at them. They should be punished. She would take care of that. That was for sure. They should burn in hell for all she cared. Their names didn't even matter. She just wanted them gone. Permanently!

Slowly but surely, a furious Alice focused her energy on the one with the darkblonde hair. She just wanted to destroy Umbrella, and using her powers on this guy was a nice way to start getting revenge on them. With all of the powers she possessed, Alice used her powers on the darkblonde guy. She wanted him and his friend gone, even if she had to kill them. She just wanted to get rid of them. Murder them if she had to. They didn't deserve to live. Not after all the lives they destroyed for the sake of science. Anger coursed through her veins as she used her telekinesis on this guy.

The darkblonde guy stopped dead in his tracks, having a confused look on his face as he looked at his feet. His muscles seemed to have stopped functioning, which was exactly Alice's goal. He suddenly couldn't move a muscle. Hence the confused look on his face. To him, it felt like there was something preventing him from taking the next step, which caused him to start freaking out. He looked up at the others, panick in his eyes. It felt like an invisible force was preventing him from moving or something. Definitely not a thing he seemed to enjoy, which was much to Alice's delight as she began to smirk.

Just as Chris was about to introduce the strangers, Alice used her telekinesis to lift the darkblonde guy off the ground and into the air. Everyone took notice.

"What's going on?" the darkblonde guy panicked as he got lifted off into the air.

Frightened, the others just looked on. Floating about 5 feet in the air, the stranger noticed the darkblonde woman who was staring intently at him with a devilish smirk on her face. Was she the one doing this? Nah, that would be impossible. No one would even be capable of doing this, especially not this woman. No way someone would be able to do anything like this, though he was about 5 feet above the floor, which puzzled him to no end. What was happening to him? However, before he could even try to figure it out, he began to fly through the air and got slammed into a wall, rendering him almost unconscious. Blood streamed down a wound on his forehead as he got turned around and got pinned to the wall.

"What the hell are you doing?" an angry Chris yelled at Alice, knowing that Alice was the only one capable of doing this.

"Don't you see? I'm killing him", Alice explained in the calmest of ways and focused even more on the darkblonde guy, which resulted in him starting to make choking sounds.

"Just stop it!", Chris yelled, horrified.

"Why?" Alice asked back, "What the hell were you thinking, bringing them here? Look at what they've done to Angie!"

Slowly but surely, it seemed like the life was slowly squeezed out of the guy on the wall. A horrific sight, yet Alice kept her focus as she badly wanted to kill this guy. Fury seemed to consume every fiber of her being. This man would suffer for what he'd put Angie through. He would suffer badly. Finally, it was time to avenge everything the Umbrella Corporation had done to her.

"I thought you and I were on the same side, Chris", Alice said furiously.

Chris walked up to Alice and looked her straight in the eyes. This had to stop. They needed Kevin to fly them out of here. With him dead, the chances of entering Tokyo were slim at best. So they needed him alive. He didn't need Alice to choke the life out of him, even if he understood where she was coming from. No, they needed him to take them to Tokyo. Otherwise, they should just forget about it and their whole journey here would've been a waste.

"Listen to me", Chris told her intently, "You can't kill him. We need him."

"Yeah, and why is that?" Alice asked furiously, yelling.

"Because he's a chopper pilot. He can take us out of here", a yelling Chris continued to explain, "Come on. What's more important? Killing him or getting revenge against Umbrella?"

"Why should you care?" Alice yelled, "They killed your sister, for God's sake!"

"Don't you think I know?" Chris yelled, "That why I'm going after something bigger than this!"

Alice started to doubt. Should she kill this guy or not? After all, Chris had a point there. What good would it do if she killed the one person that could take them to Tokyo? Especially after Chris' plan sounding better than what Alice originally had in mind, going after the big bosses definitely sounded like a better idea. An idea worth thinking about. If killing a chopper pilot would risk getting revenge against all of Umbrella, then why not let him live and kill him once they get to Umbrella's HQ? Why not?

"Please!", Chris pleaded.

Alice sighed. Despite the anger that fueled every fiber of her body, Chris' plan made sense. They needed this darkblonde guy to fly them away from this ship. That was the only way to enter Tokyo safely. Which was why, eventually, Alice released her hold over the guy, letting him breath and putting him on the floor again. The guy immediately sat down in his confused state, coughing and breathing heavily from the shock of almost getting killed by a woman. He didn't have the slighest idea of what had happened to him.

"Thank you", relief was in Chris' sighing voice.

"Don't. Just don't", Alice warned in disgust and walked towards Angela in order to tend to her, breathing heavily from the use of her powers.

With that, Chris just stood there as he watched Steve walking up to Kevin, who was still sitting dazed on the floor. Somehow, his plan just had to work. It just had to. Otherwise, it would all be for nothing. For a moment, Chris had felt like his plan was going to fail if Alice had indeed killed Kevin. But now that she'd let him live, things were looking up again. If only his plan worked the way it was supposed to, then there would be nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.

* * *

**Author's note: After a long time of being absent, here I am again with a brand new chapter. I just needed to take a break from all the writing I've been doing for the first half of this year, and now here I'm back to finish this story once and for all. However, I won't be updating this story as often as I've done before, so you have to be a little more patient if you're already waiting for the next chapter. I can't tell you when I'll be updating again, so I'm kinda leaving you guys in the dark there. But I can already promise you that there'll be a few more chapters to come. So just be patient...**

**Meanwhile, what did you think of this chapter? Pretty exciting, right? And this is only the beginning of the end as there's a whole lot more coming. I mean, Alice not trusting Kevin and Steve, Chris having a bigger plan and Angela not being able to walk: It all sounds promising, doesn't it? Or do you not agree with me? Cause you gotta tell me when you do. It's alright, I can take the heat (as long as it's brought in a kind way ;)), so don't hold back. Maybe you can even review this chapter? It would mean the world to me as it'll be much appreciated. Thanks in advance. **


	26. Lost And Found

**Hi,**

**First of all, I'd like to apologize for not updating in what seems like an eternity. For the last year, I've just been really busy with what people call 'real life' so I didn't have much time to update this story for you guys. I myself can't believe that it's already been a year (10-11-11) since chapter 25, especially since time flies by really fast when you're busy with a job and whatnot.**

**Fear not, however, because this story has been in my mind for the entire time. I couldn't just let this story go, not when I've got so many more awesome chapters for you to read. So during the past year, I've been rewriting all of the chapters of this story for you guys to make reading this story more enjoyable. Some only needed a little change, some needed to be completely rewritten as they were just unreadable, to say the least, in my opinion. **

**Right now, I'm in the process of rewriting chapters 22, 23, 24 and 25. I've already written a small part of chapter 22, I only need to finish it. I can't, however, promise that the next update is around the corner with me busy with real life. For all I know, it's going to take a few more months to finish chapter 22. So just hang on, you guys. ;)**

**Meanwhile, there's also a whole lot of awesome stuff coming in the future of this story. As you've already noticed, the name of this chapter is 'Lost And Found', which is going to continue K-Mart and Leon's story once replaced with new content. Together, they'll encounter someone from Leon's past. Someone who could cause a rift in their relationship...**

**But there's also more coming in future chapters:**

**- Some will leave for Tokyo, some will not. Who? Well, that depends on their physical condition and whether or not that someone can be trusted. Tokyo, however, won't be what anyone will expect.**

**- Leon and K-Mart will continue their search for civilisation. However, they haven't seen the last of what they've encountered in the past.**

**- Dr. Birkin will be back and he has a lot to say.**

**- K-Mart is going to doubt Leon's love for her, which will cause her to do something drastic.**

**- The outcome of Umbrella's experiments will have dire concequences for a certain character.**


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